February 15, 2006

EU officials detain another soy shipment from Argentina

Biotechnology giant Monsanto has got EU customs officials to temporarily detain another shipment of Argentine soymeal in Spain, Argentina's Agriculture Secretariat confirmed Tuesday.

This is the third ship to be detained in Spain this year. A separate shipment was detained recently in the UK, and two shipments to Denmark and the Netherlands were interrupted last year.

Monsanto is asking EU customs officials to inspect the contents of these shipments in an effort to show that they contain soybean products derived from a Monsanto-made seed. Monsanto has a patent on the seed, known as Roundup Ready soy, in the EU but not in Argentina.

This has led to the temporary detainment of shipments and in some cases has forced importers to pay a US$15/tonne fee to Argentine exporters. Monsanto is asking for the fee to compensate for the fact that most Argentine farmers do not pay the company for the right to use the seeds, which are used to plant about 95 percent of Argentina's soybeans.

The Argentine government says Monsanto has no legal right to charge farmers for such fees.

Monsanto aims to pressure the Argentine government into forcing farmers to pay up.

Argentina exported 11 million tonnes worth of soybean products to the EU last year. Soybean-related exports to Europe totalled about US$2 billion in 2005, according to Agriculture Secretariat data.