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Top 10 Seed Companies in the World

Last year was the year of changes in seed company’s mergers and acquisitions as number of changes were visualized in the current situations. This has brought major changes in seed industry where Chinese native companies have stepped into global seed arena. The merger between Bayer-Monsanto and DowDuPont was a major breakthrough thus leading to the two superpower and stronger entities, which will set an example for the coming generations and complete picture related to seed industries priority list.

Updated on: 4 September, 2021 3:17 PM IST By: Dr. Sangeeta Soi
Syngenta

Last year has seen changes in mergers of the seed company and also acquisition because a number of changes were visualized in the current situation. This has resulted in significant changes in the seed sector, with Chinese homegrown companies entering the global seed arena.

The integration between Bayer-Monsanto and DowDuPont (DWDP) was a major breakthrough therefore leading to the two strong and superpower entity, which will set an example for the upcoming generations and will complete the picture related to the list of seed industry. 

Syngenta and Longping High-Tech are two Chinese seed firms that have emerged among the top ten seed companies at the same time. With the collaborations and divestments of several mergers, such as Syngenta turning away from seed acquisition and Bayer-additional Monsanto's divestments, 2018 is expected to bring a lot of changes to the seed industries platform. The newcomer Basf and the rise of Longping High-Tech are expected to offer a new storyline to the global seed sector.

List of top seed companies:

  • Monsanto(US)

  • Corteva Agriscience (DowDupont) (US)

  • Syngenta (ChemChina) (China)

  • Limagrain (France)

  • Bayer(Germany)

  • KWS(Germany)

  • Sakata seed (Japan)

  • DLF(Denmark)

  • Long Ping HiTech (China)

  • Rijk Zwaan(Nederland)

The seed industry has seen significant changes in 2017. Three important names are at the verge of end in the seed industry. In June, ChemChina acquired Syngenta, the world's largest pesticide and third-largest seed company. The new entity has a market value of almost $130 billion.

Bayer and Monsanto are continuing working on their mergers, which are still being opposed by the EU, but have passed the US Committee on Foreign Investment checks, and due to other factors, additional declarations are expected to be heard in 2018.

Monsanto Bayer

Many of Bayer and Monsanto's activities have been dissolved, and important changes have occurred, such as Bayer selling its seed and herbicide businesses to BASF. Similarly, the DOW-DuPont merger led in the divestment of Dow Agro Sciences' Brazilian corn seed business, which was acquired by China's Longping Hi-Tech through a collaboration with CITIC's agriculture foundation.

The Company Longping Hi-Tech has also invested in many other ventures like  Hubei Huimin Agro Technology, Hebei Universe, Beijing Sunrise Agritech, Hunan Golden Rice. It is now the largest Chinese-owned company in the world. The company's sale will almost surely push it to the top of the list.

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