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 jacob.bunge@wsj.com
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