Hints and tips:
...ADM, an international grain dealer, had accused Swiss-based seed company Syngenta of negligence when it introduced two new varieties of genetically modified corn to US farmers....
...DowDuPont, which counts agrochemicals and seeds as businesses alongside its plastics and chemicals units, was off 1.1 per cent....
...But even before the Syngenta deal, China was shaking up the chemicals industry....
...In 1996, there were 600 independent seed companies: most have since been bought out by bigger players, including the six names — Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, DuPont, Dow Chemical and BASF — that now control...
...and oil seeds, thereby reducing the need for trade....
...The Andersons is one of the few remaining independent grain traders left in North America, the world’s biggest exporter of grains and oilseeds....
...More than 90 per cent respondents said they were against the Canadian group renewing its bid for K+S, while 80 per cent were opposed to PotashCorp acquiring retail distribution assets in North America as...
...“The government, and by extension SOEs, therefore prefer large, headline-grabbing mega-projects such as rail lines in Thailand, in South America and the Syngenta deal to smaller deals.”...
...New York-listed SunOpta says it handles more than half the organic soyabeans grown in North America as well as corn, sunflower, cocoa, sugar, fruits, nuts, seeds and ancient grains....
...Last November Company 2’s chairman met Edward Breen, chief executive of DuPont, in Short Hills, New Jersey, just a few miles from BASF’s North American headquarters....
...(Quartz) Monsanto drops bid The seeds group dropped its $46bn offer for rival Syngenta on Wednesday, sending shares of the Swiss group tumbling....
...Bunge shares fell 5.1 per cent to $81.27 after the company reported a 70 per cent drop in second-quarter profits....
...The US agricultural seeds and chemicals company is pursuing a “tax inversion” acquisition of rival Syngenta, with the merged entity to be domiciled in the UK under a new name....
...In the fertiliser sector, PotashCorp of Saskatchewan has been pursuing K+S of Germany, while Monsanto, the US seeds and pesticide group, is wooing Swiss rival Syngenta after its overtures were rebuffed....
...The results follow weaker than expected numbers from agricultural trading rivals Bunge and Archer Daniels Midland....
...Syngenta’s seed trait combats cutworms and other pests. Before shipments were stopped, most corn imported from the US probably had Viptera in it, Syngenta officials have said....
...US trading giant Cargill sued Syngenta after it was forced early this year to reroute China-bound cargoes containing the seed, which had not been approved by Chinese authorities....
...Several trading houses, including Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland, are now refusing to accept another genetically modified seed developed by Syngenta called Agrisure Duracade....
...David MacLennan, Cargill chief executive, said: “This year’s big crops, not just in North America, but across agricultural production areas worldwide, will enhance food security after several years of weather...
...Other mooted tax inversions – including a $36bn plan by Monsanto, the US seed company, to acquire Swiss rival Syngenta – have also gone quiet....
...The rejected shipments have stoked tension among trading houses, the government of China and seed maker Syngenta....
...Despite enormous crops in North America, consumers replenishing supplies after the drought of 2012 have kept stocks relatively slim....
...Chuck Lee, who leads Syngenta’s corn work in North America, estimates only about 3,500 US farmers will plant Duracade seed this spring....
...Companies including ADM and Dreyfus have seen corn shipments turned away at Chinese ports in recent months over concerns they contained unapproved genetically modified seeds....
...In recent years it has acquired or built grain silos, sunflower seed processing capacity and an animal feed mill in the country....
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