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Monsanto wants soy royalties brazil Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.forbes.com/technology/newswire/2003/06/11/rtr997271.htmlhttp://www.forbes.com/technology/newswire/2003/06/11/rtr997271.html
Brazil soy exporters to pay GM royalty 2004-Monsanto
Reuters, 06.11.03, 4:04 PM ET
By Inae Riveras
SAO PAULO, Brazil, June 11 (Reuters) - Biotech giant Monsanto (nyse: MON - news - people) said on Wednesday it expects Brazilian soybean exporters to pay royalties as of 2004 for shipments of the company's genetically modified "Roundup Ready" soybeans.
The Brazilian subsidiary of the U.S.-based agribusiness company said negotiations were proceeding well with exporters, whom Monsanto expected to sign royalty contracts by Aug. 1 for 2003/04 soy crop exports.
Roughly 35 local exporters account for 95 percent of the country's shipments of soy abroad.
Monsanto's marketing director Felipe Osorio said no value had been set yet but estimated that royalties would range between $15 to $66 dollars per hectare (2.471 acres) of soy depending on regional yields, which can vary from roughly 1.9 tonnes to 3.1 tonnes a hectare across Brazil's soy belt.
Brazilian shipments of soybeans to countries, in which Monsanto holds a patent for its trademark Roundup Ready soybeans, will have to show receipts to importers for royalties paid, Osorio said.
Currently the United States, Canada, Japan and most European countries honor Monsanto's Roundup Ready patents. However, the company's intellectual property rights to RR soy are not recognized in China -- Brazil's largest soybean importer.
Exporters would be responsible for discounting what they paid producers and cooperatives for RR soy to compensate for the royalties paid out to Monsanto.
"Clients on the global level are demanding just treatment," said Osorio, who noted that producers in the United States and Europe were complaining that they could not compete against Brazilian producers who were not paying for the GM technology.
Brazil is the world's No.2 soybean producer and exporter after the United States and accounts for over a quarter of the world's soy supply.
The country is also the only agricultural producer of its size that still bans the commercial planting and sale of GM crops, although the government granted amnesty until early 2004 for producers growing black-market GM soy.
Most of the RR seeds are believed to have been smuggled into Brazil from Argentina and Paraguay where they are legally planted.
Despite recent government efforts to curb the illegal GM soy market in Brazil, Monsanto said it expected the planting of biotech RR soy to increase next crop, which begins planting in September-December.
Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service
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