Monsanto Co is facing major threats to its historic dominance of seed and herbicide technology for the $40 billion U.S. soybean market. Rivals BASF SE and DowDuPont are preparing to push their own varieties of genetically modified soybeans. At stake is control over seed supply for the next generation of farmers producing the most valuable U.S. agricultural export. The market has opened up as Monsanto’s Roundup Ready line of seeds – engineered to tolerate the weed killer glyphosate – has lost effectiveness as weeds develop their own tolerance to the chemical. Compounding the firm’s troubles is a national scandal over crop damage linked to its new soybean and herbicide pairing – Roundup Ready 2 Xtend seeds, engineered to resist the chemical dicamba. The newly competitive sector has sown confusion across the U.S. farm belt, particularly among smaller firms that produce and sell seeds with technology licensed from the agrichemical giants. Many of these sellers told Reuters they are amassing a surplus of seeds with engineered traits from multiple developers – at substantial extra cost – because they can only guess which product farmers will buy. “Our job is to meet our customers’ needs, and we don’t know what those are going to be,” said Carl Peterson, president of Peterson Farms Seed near Fargo, North Dakota. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like this.” Monsanto has much to lose. Soybeans are the key ingredient in feed used to fatten the world’s cattle, pigs, chickens and fish. Net sales of… [Read full story]
VietNamNet Bridge - The battle among the big players in the coffee market has not gone the way people have predicted. All of them have been winners. Trung Nguyen, Highlands Coffee and Starbucks Coffee are the three biggest names in the Vietnamese market. Trung Nguyen is the most common brand, considering its high number of shops in its network. However, the other two also attract many Vietnamese customers. After 10 years of presence in Vietnam, Highlands Coffee has nearly 100 shops, mostly in large cities. Since the very beginning, it has been positioned as the coffee for businesspeople and high-income…... [read more]
VietNamNet Bridge - In the warm weather, thousands of visitors flocked to the stadium in Hai Luu commune in the northern province of Vinh Phuc on February 19 to witness the finals of the buffalo fighting festival. the festival appeared in the 2nd century B.C, when the Han dynasty invaded Nam Viet (Vietnam today) of the Trieu Dynasty. After each victory, Lu Gia organized buffalo fights as amusement for his soldiers. After the battles the fighting buffaloes were killed to give a feast to the soldiers. th and 17th of the first lunar month. for VND500,000 to VND700,000 ($25-35) a…... [read more]
(VOVworld) – On Thursday, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter confirmed President Barack Obama’s viewpoint that the battle against IS is not a fight with Muslims or Islam. At a press conference with his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar in Washington, Mr. Carter said the Islamic State is an extremist group which threatens the US and must be defeated. Earlier, at a hearing of the US Senate Armed Service Committee, Mr. Carter said in order to escalate the fight against IS militants, the US military stands ready to send more American personnel and attack helicopters to Iraq to retake the city of…... [read more]
Farmers harvest this year's summer-autumn rice crop in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang. Both rice exporters and farmers are facing difficulties due to supply outstripping demand this year. — VNA/VNS Photo Duy Khuong HCM CITY (VNS)— Rice exports for September is estimated at about 650,000 tonnes, bringing the third quarter's total to 1.84 million tonnes, 230,000 tonnes less than planned. A Viet Nam Food Association (VFA) report says enterprises exported 620,532 tonnes of rice last month for a FOB (free-on-board) value of US$264.34 million, a year-on-year fall of 32.55 per cent in volume and 33.09 per cent in…... [read more]
How do you get a bottom-up stock picker, a chart watcher and an economist to agree? Try asking them about Chinese equities. Mark Mobius, Tom DeMark and George Magnus -- world-renowned forecasters who view markets through three very different lenses -- are all finding common ground with their predictions that Chinese shares have further to drop. They say government efforts to prop up the $5.1 trillion market are futile, a view that’s gaining traction among analysts after an unprecedented two-month rescue effort failed to spark a sustained rally. Mark Mobius. "I’d expect the government to be reducing intervention," Mobius, the…... [read more]
