ADM Sues Syngenta Over Genetically Engineered Corn

By Jacob Bunge 

Archer Daniels Midland Co. sued Syngenta AG over losses the grain trader and processor said it suffered after Syngenta sold genetically engineered corn in the U.S. that had yet to win approval in China.

ADM said Syngenta's push to sell its biotech corn to U.S. farmers, without first securing Chinese import approval, led China to reject shipments of U.S. corn in the past year. That caused "substantial economic losses and damages" for ADM, the Chicago company said in a lawsuit filed in a Louisiana state court.

ADM didn't specify how much the company claims to have lost due to rejected grain shipments and lost sales, though a spokeswoman said they amounted to "tens of millions of dollars in losses and added costs."

A spokesman for Syngenta said the Swiss seed-and-chemical company "believes that the lawsuit is without merit and strongly upholds the right of growers to have access to approved new technologies."

ADM's lawsuit escalates legal battles over Syngenta's Viptera corn, which the company in 2011 began selling in the U.S., Argentina and Brazil. Commodities trader Cargill Inc. and Trans Coastal Supply Co., another grain exporter, filed suits alleging similar losses in September.

Lawsuits by farmers have been filed in more than 10 states since then, blaming Syngenta for a sharp decline in U.S. corn exports to China this year and lower prices for the grain. ADM estimated that China consumed about 24.5% of the world's corn in 2013.

Write to Jacob Bunge at [e-mail]

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