On June 7, 2018, DW News broke the news on TV that the German company Bayer had completed its acquisition of the US agrochemical corporation Monsanto.
According to DW, control of the world’s agriculture is now in the hands of only 4 giant corporate entities; the rest making up less than 10%.
The US conglomerate Dow-Dupont retains 17.5% of the market share DW reported. The Chinese consortium ChemChina/Syngenta is next with 28.4%.
German company BASF only has 13.4%. But, as of June 2018, Bayer tops everyone else with 30.8% making it the largest agrochemical business in the world.
On October 13, 2017, DW posted an article titled “BASF completes billion euro Bayer deal”. The article said,
“Pharma giant Bayer will sell some assets to its German rival BASF to gain regulatory approval for its takeover of US firm Monsanto, and create a company that will control more than a quarter of the world seed’s market.”
These deals mean one country dominates the world’s agrochemical industry since BASF and Bayer together are now said to hold a 43.8% share of the market.
And that could prove to be a very strategic move long term.
Photo Credits: Wheat by Wouter de Bruijn, License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0; Agro-scientist courtesy of Bayer
