In a lawsuit filed in a US District Court in Iowa in August, Syngenta claimed that Bunge North America’s refusal to accept delivery from farmers of corn or soybeans grown from its Agrisure Viptera seeds was illegal. The seeds, which have been genetically modified for insect resistance, have not been approved for sale in China – and Bunge said that accepting the seeds before approval could jeopardize US corn exports to China.
US District Judge Mark W. Bennett in Sioux City, Iowa, said in last week’s ruling that Syngenta was not likely to succeed in the suit and denied the company’s request for a preliminary injunction.
Responding to the decision, Bunge said in a statement: “This ruling is consistent with and validates Bunge’s decision to reject Agrisure Viptera corn at all of our locations as a legitimate and reasonable business decision.
“…We believe that the court will not vary from the opinion denying the preliminary injunction and will ultimately confirm its ruling that Syngenta’s case is without merit. We believe the court’s final ruling will further validate the actions Bunge took to protect the integrity of our export supply chain.”
Agrisure Viptera corn has already been approved for sale in other importing countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Korea and Taiwan.
Bunge’s North American president and CEO Soren Schroder said in a previous statement that approval for Syngenta’s Agrisure Viptera corn is not expected until early 2012, and until it is approved, the company would not accept the corn in order to protect the integrity of its export supply chain.
He said this was in line with the North American Export Grain Association’s policy that technology providers should receive all major international approvals for a trait before seed sales, and the export industry had notified Syngenta more than a year earlier that China was considered a major export market.
According to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) figures, Chinese corn imports are at their highest level since 1994/95, at about 1.5m tonnes, and it predicts that figure will rise to about 2m tonnes next year.