Brazil provisionally approved Dow's first GM maize line, Bayer's glufosinate-tolerant LibertyLink, earlier this year Photo: Maciek Culpa

Dow AgroSciences has acquired the Brazilian maize seed company, Agromen Tecnologia (Orlandia, Sao Paulo) for an undisclosed amount. The seed company's sales account for 11% of the Brazilian maize seed market. The deal includes the Agromen brand, "some of its five" national production plants, and its two research and development units. The Agromen Group's other seed businesses, such as soybeans and sorghum, are not part of the agreement.

The multinational seeks to take advantage of Agromen's position in the national maize market to boost sales of its genetically modified insect-resistant Herculex maize. The GM crop is awaiting approval from the country's authorising body, the national technical commission for biosafety, the CTNBio.

Dow's application is behind several others, including requests from Bayer CropScience and Monsanto. Brazil provisionally approved its first GM maize line, Bayer's glufosinate-tolerant LibertyLink, earlier this year. The registration has subsequently been frozen by the courts (Agrow No 523, p 14), and the CTNBio has delayed decisions on the approval of five other GM maize lines (Agrow No 525, p 17).

Dow emphasises its global moves into "key" crops. The company cites its acquisition earlier this year of the Austrian maize seed company, Maize Technologies International (Agrow No 519, p 2), as part of its strategy. The moves "will enable us to leverage superior Dow and Dow AgroSciences input and output traits in key crops around the world", Jerome Peribere, Dow AgroSciences' president and chief executive officer, says.

Dow will come closer to the national market leaders following the acquisition. Monsanto is the largest seed supplier in Brazil, including the brands, Dekalb and Agroceres, according to the national newswire, Agencia Estado. It ranks DuPont/Pioneer, Bayer and Syngenta among the market leaders.

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