About Chemchina and the sector's consolidation
"Agriculture has historically been affected by cyclical highs and lows. Over the past three years, we have been facing a scenario of very low prices for the most basic products and with abundant harvests. Growers are not being paid adequately for their work, and this takes a toll on the plant health industry. This is the main cause of the current situation in the sector, marked by more and more concentration. Four companies have chosen to merge: Bayer-Monsanto and DuPont-Dow, which will likely result in labour adjustments. In our case, it is not a merger process. We are switching to a sole shareholder status: ChemChina; a partner that has a long-term global strategy based on sustainable agriculture."
The European Commission is investigating the acquisition of Syngenta by ChemChina. Why?
It is a normal antitrust investigation by the European Commission, which is taking into account the fact that the company Adama (devoted to generic plant health products) is part of the ChemChina group. There will be no merger between Syngenta and Adama. The EC's caution is justified by the fact that there are on-going mergers between several multinationals in the field of plant protection and seed production, so the EC needs more time to evaluate the process and ensure there are no competition issues. Syngenta is providing all the necessary information for the investigation to the European authorities. I am sure that by the end of the first quarter of 2017, the EC will be ready to greenlight the acquisition.
Is a restructuring of Syngenta planned after the approval of the agreement by the EC?
Syngenta will remain Syngenta. There will be no merger with Adama, or any restructuring; much less in Europe. Our mission is to develop innovative products for the protection of quality crops and seeds and it will continue to be so. We are putting into practice what makes sense from a business point of view: improving the company where it is needed. In Spain, we have about 500 employees, two R&D centres, two factories and an excellent sales team. We want to keep all of this and continue expanding the business here.
What about seed production? Will it be affected by the acquisition of ChemChina?
In the seed segment, there will be no changes after the merger with ChemChina. We are the third largest seed company in the world and we want to strengthen this position in the short term. We have the ambition to ascend to second place.
In Europe, we now occupy a strong third position. We are leaders in sunflower seeds and have a prominent place in vegetables and oilseeds. We are improving our position in the maize market, which is already very strong in Eastern Europe, Russia, Romania and Bulgaria, but we want to strengthen our position in Germany, Poland, Italy and France.
How can the acquisition of Syngenta by ChemChina be beneficial for the growers?
The biggest benefit for them is the boost that Chemchina and Syngenta want to give to the use of sustainable agricultural practices. We started this journey together with a sustainability plan called "The Good Growth Plan", looking not only to increase the productivity of the main crops, but also to improve the environmental impact generated by agriculture, its social dimension, the training involved and the employment security in the sector.