China Seed Dekalb changes to China Seed International

Chinese Ministry of Agriculture has recently announced that China Seed Dekalb is changed to China Seed International. After the change, its registered capital reaches Yuan 480 million($76.9 million at the current rate). Before the change, China Seed Dekalb was the first Sino-foreign joint venture dealing in the field seed business such as corn seed, as having been launched between China Seed Group and Monsanto, specializing in development of Monsanto’s Dekalb corn seed series.

The new China Seed International, besides the inherited business from China Seed Dekalb, has also incorporated the corn business of China Seed, being responsible for the research, production and marketing of Monsanto’s Dekalb series business. On the other side, Monsanto makes its contribution by input of research assets. “This is a win-win result, which also means Monsanto will be able to enter Chinese market more smoothly. The cooperation is an important first step of Monsanto’s presence in China.”

So far there are about 6,600 seed companies in China, but of which only over 300 have a registered capital of above Yuan 30 million ($4.8 million at the current rate), resulting in a situation where most of the seed companies have small scale and are much dispersed. Among them, there are only 91 enterprises which have the “integrated cultivation, propagation and promotion capability”. From the registered capital perspective, China Seed International can be considered as a “flagship” of Chinese seed industry.