Agribusiness giant Syngenta posted a 6 percent increase in sales in the third quarter driven by a strong start to the Latin American growing season.

The company had sales of $2.7 billion for the quarter and has $11 billion in sales for the first nine months of the year.

Sales in Latin America increased 18 percent. The company said high soybean prices are causing increased investment in the crop in Brazil and Argentina.

Switzerland-based Syngenta employs about 400 workers at its biotechnology research arm in Research Triangle Park.

The company is in the midst of a $71 million, 147,000-square-foot expansion at RTP that includes high-tech greenhouses. It's expected to be completed later this year.

BASF, the German chemical giant, is moving the headquarters of its plant science division from Germany to Research Triangle Park.

The company already employs about 200 people in the park, where it is working to create genetically modified crops that will produce larger harvests or plants that will be better able to withstand drought, floods and rising ocean levels.

Adding the headquarters designation will mean transferring as many as 123 positions to the Triangle from sites in Europe.

Megan Lybrand, a BASF Plant Science spokeswoman, said the company does not yet know how many European employees will relocate.

“We’ll see what happens as far as colleagues choosing to join us,” she said, adding that the company expects to continue to expand its workforce.