FEED Business Worldwide - July 2012
Syngenta to pay US$105 million fine for herbicide trial
Syngenta AG will be paying a fine of US$105 million to settle the lawsuit involving US water utilities over the herbicide atrazine.
Syngenta filed the agreement with a district court in Illinois, the Basel, Switzerland-based company said in a statement. The charge is partly covered by provisions, and the effect on 2012 earnings will be about US$0.50 a share.
"Under the terms of the agreement, Syngenta expressly denied liability and the plaintiffs acknowledged that they are not aware of any new scientific studies relating to atrazine," the company said.
Syngenta said it will continue to sell atrazine in the US. The chemical was banned in the EU in 2003 after scientific studies linked the weedkiller to birth defects in frogs.
Mitsubishi to become Japan's top feed wheat importer
Japan's Mitsubishi Corp looks set to become the country's top feed wheat importer this year as increased US corn prices heighten wheat's appeal, trading sources said.
Mitsubishi will import more than 240,000 tonnes of feed wheat for August shipment, which is approximately half of the nation's total, by offering lower prices than competitors Marubeni Corp and Mitsui & Co, who typically are the largest importers of thus feed ingredient. The information, which came from government tenders, was from anonymous sources, as auctions' details were not to be made public.
As American corn prices increase and more wheat sources are available, Japan is gradually switching from its usual corn feed for poultry, swine and cattle to feed wheat. Having secured cheaper feed wheat supplies from Australia, the company, which usually deals in energy and metals trading, has expanded its sights.
"Mitsubishi may have found economies of scale work well because the farm ministry now buys as much as 100,000 tonnes of feed wheat per month, compared with 10,000 tonnes or so in the past," said a trader at a Japanese feed maker.
Feed wheat imports to Japan since last year have been at least US$20/tonne (US$0.50/bushel) cheaper than corn, the trader said.
Andritz acquires stake in Schuler AG, Germany
Feed technology supplier Andritz has acquired the 38.5% interest held by Schuler-Beteiligungen GmbH in publicly listed Schuler AG, at €20 (US$24.70) in a cash per share transaction. Schuler-Beteiligungen GmbH has a longstanding reputation as one of the world's leading manufacturers of specialty films for food and drinks packaging
In addition, Andritz announced a voluntary public takeover offer to the remaining shareholders for the outstanding 61.5% of Schuler AG's capital stock at the same purchase price.
The two deals are subject to the approval of European Union anti-trust authorities.
With a net cash position of approximately €1.3 billion (US$1.6 billion) as of the end of March 2012, Andritz is more than able of acquiring Schuler AG out of its own financial resources.
In the first half of the current business year, Schuler achieved a 44% increase in sales from the previous year, bringing in a total of €581 million (US$717.4 million). This is boosted by the current high investment activity in the automotive industry.
Andritz went on to purchase almost another 10% of the shares in Schuler AG in addition to the previous acquisition. Since disclosing its decision to submit a voluntary public takeover offer, Andritz now holds just under 25% of the shares in Schuler AG and, with the shares acquired previously and subject to approval by the anti-trust authorities, has access to just under 63.5% in total.
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McDonald plans to phase out gestation stall use
McDonald's USA has created a ten-year plan to phase out the use of gestation stalls in its domestic pork supply chain. The move is being done in cooperation with American pork producers.
The plan follows McDonald's February announcement that it was committed to working with its pork suppliers to assess the current state of it pork supply chain's sow housing conditions and developing new policies for gestation stall phase outs.
The goal of McDonald's ten-year plan, which was developed with input from its suppliers, pork producers and animal welfare experts, is to source all pork for its American restaurants from producers that do not house pregnant sows in gestation stalls by the end of 2022.
As part of working towards that goal, by 2017, McDonald's will try to obtain pork for its US business only from producers who intend to phase out gestation stalls. The company will work with producers and suppliers to develop necessary traceability systems that will verify pork sourced from non-gestation stall supply chains and assess how to best support producers migrating away from gestation stalls.
The systems will be integral in determining the birth circumstances of the hogs McDonalds will be sourcing. This is made more difficult by the fact that most fast food chains are buying pork sausages which, like ground beef, is made from commingled trimmings. "There are no major packers today segregating product," said National Pork Producers Council vice president for Industry Relations, Dallas Hockman.
Industry conversion away from gestation stalls also poses financial challenges, particularly for independent producers with small operations.
"This change is complex and will require additional resources. The ten-year timeline that McDonald's has outlined is necessary to research and identify better housing alternatives and ensure proper training of employees," the release quoted Temple Grandin, renowned animal welfare scientist at Colorado State University and member of McDonald's Animal Welfare Council, as saying. "This is really good forward thinking, and I commend McDonald's for doing it."
McDonald's will continue to work with its supplier network and subject matter experts to refine and implement this plan. It intends to phase out gestation stalls in a gradual, balanced manner that does not neglect the concerns of the smaller, independent pork producers and by building on current, existing sow housing infrastructures.
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