Argentina exporters slam Monsanto for soy suits
Tue Feb 14, 2006pm ET8

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Argentine export groups on Tuesday lambasted U.S. biotech company Monsanto Co. (MON.N: Quote, Profile, Research) for halting more Argentine soy shipments in Europe in a bitter soybean royalties dispute.
The company has sued importers of Argentine soymeal in three European countries to try to enforce patents there on its Roundup Ready gene technology, which was never patented in Argentina but is nearly universally used by farmers.
The Center for Grain Exporters and the Argentine Chamber of Vegetable Oil Industries said Monsanto's efforts to charge fees of between $15 and $18.75 per tonne on Argentine soy will hurt the entire sector.
"These actions will have a negative impact on internal soy prices and, therefore, on all productive activities related to the country's top export, since they involve penalties worth about 10 percent of the product's total value," the groups said in a joint press statement.
Argentine soy traded at $178 per tonne in Rosario's spot market on Tuesday.
Argentina is the world's No. 1 soymeal supplier and Europe, its top client, buys $1.9 billion worth of soymeal a year. Soy-related exports are the South American country's top foreign currency earner.
In recent weeks, Monsanto has halted Argentine soy shipments in three Spanish ports and in Liverpool, England, testing for its Roundup Ready technology in a prelude to lawsuits. The company has filed patent infringement suits in Denmark, the Netherlands and, most recently, Spain.
Monsanto has lobbied for two years for a new soybean royalty mechanism in Argentina, where the government estimates that 30 percent of farmers buy soy seeds on the black market and avoid paying the fees.
By law, many farmers can also use biotech soy seeds culled from their own plants without paying royalties. Argentina defends its system, which requires that royalties be paid when seeds are sold and not after beans are harvested, as Monsanto has suggested as an alternative. The government aims to crack down on the black market to improve the system.
The Economy Ministry has warned that soy production could slip next season as a result of Monsanto's actions in Europe, which the government describes as "extortion."
Monsanto says the lawsuits are its only option for charging technology fees.

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