Articles

Monsanto Co reported a 45 percent drop in quarterly net income on Wednesday as the global seed leader’s Roundup herbicide business continued to struggle, sending its shares down as much as 4.3 percent. Company officials, who called 2010 a “challenging year,” said while they saw a 5 percent jump in net sales of seeds and genomics, net sales of Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides fell 56 percent.

West Virginia officials have notified global seed giant Monsanto Co that they are probing whether or not the company engaged in unfair or deceptive practices in marketing its new genetically altered soybean seeds. The West Virginia Office of the Attorney General said in a letter to Monsanto dated June 24 that it wants to meet with officials from the St. Louis-based company to discuss investigators’ concerns that Monsanto has violated consumer protection laws.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a case pitting environmentalists against biotech seed giant Monsanto Co could speed up a resumption of sales of genetically altered alfalfa, though any commercialization still depends on action by U.S. regulators.

BASF, one of the world’s largest chemical companies, is investing more in its biotech crop technology unit, pushing a raft of new products to market that should start contributing earnings to the BASF bottom line within the next couple of years, company officials said on Wednesday.

Moves by the European Union to overhaul its approval system for genetically modified crops is a “big step forward.” but it is likely to be some time before the bloc is open to wide-spread cultivation of key crops, a leading DuPont executive said on Tuesday.

Monsanto Co’s shares dropped sharply after the company adjusted performance expectations downward on Thursday, saying it was narrowing its herbicide business and lowering prices amid stiff competition. Its shares fell more than 8 percent to the lowest levels in more than three years after the company said it now expects fiscal-year 2010 earnings per share to be $2.40 to $2.60 on an ongoing basis, and $2.15 to $2.41 on an as-reported basis.

Monsanto Co, said on Thursday it will restructure its herbicide products in an effort to help combat the spreading environmental woes of herbicide-resistant weeds, also known as “super weeds,” which many critics have blamed on the chemical giant. “We need to get in front of this,” Monsanto chairman Hugh Grant said in a conference call with analysts.

Higher prices for beef, pork and poultry could keep Americans from firing up their grills as often as usual this summer, keeping consumer demand for meat slow at a time of year when it usually peaks, industry experts said on Wednesday.

Global seed giant Monsanto Co took a humble tone on Wednesday, laying out a new pricing and product offering strategy following U.S. farmer complaints about the company’s practices and a disappointing launch of a new soybean seed.

Monsanto sought to reassure disheartened investors on Wednesday, saying it was gaining market share in Latin America and that farmers were enthusiastic about its new U.S. seed product lineup. The company, which has been struggling with a raft of competitive problems in both its chemicals and seeds and traits businesses, reiterated a forecast for mid-teens percentage growth in earnings per share beginning in 2011.