Origin modified corn may get China approval 2010

Origin Agritech Ltd., China’s third-biggest seed producer, said it may gain government approval next year to sell corn engineered with a newly licensed gene that would compete with Monsanto Co.’s Roundup Ready crops.

The herbicide-tolerant corn is in the third phase of China’s five-step approval process, Irving Kau, vice president of finance at Beijing-based Origin Agritech, said today in a telephone interview from Los Angeles. The company plans to submit the crop to the Ministry of Agriculture for fourth-phase approval in a few months and final approval next year, he said.

"We are anticipating late 2010 or 2011 approval in China,” Kau said. “Acreage would be small at first.”

Origin Agritech has an exclusive global license from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Sichuan Biotech Engineering Ltd. to use the glyphosate-resistant gene in corn, soybeans, cotton, rice and canola, the company said today in a statement. The technology resists the same herbicide as Monsanto’s Roundup Ready crops, which were planted on 245 million acres worldwide last year.

"Ours is better than the original Roundup Ready technology because our crop can withstand higher levels of glyphosate application,” Kau said.

The company hopes to start commercial sales of herbicide- resistant corn at 500,000 acres, rising to 3 million to 5 million acres in the following years, he said.

Take Over the Market’

"Then we hopefully take over the market,” Kau said. China is the world’s second-biggest corn producer, behind the U.S., with 72.9 million acres harvested, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Origin Agritech plans to pursue licensing agreements to distribute the technology to seed producers outside China, he said.

"We’d like to work with whoever wants to work with us,” Kau said. “Working with Monsanto isn’t out of the question.”

Syngenta Ag and Bayer AG also offer herbicide-tolerant crops, and companies such as Dow Chemical Co. are investing in the technology, said Kelli Powers, a spokeswoman for St. Louis- based Monsanto.

"We recognize the choice farmers have each season and remain committed to winning their business every day,” Powers said.

Phytase Corn

Origin Agritech’s first modified product probably will be corn that contains phytase, an animal-feed additive used to reduce phosphorous waste in waterways. The seed is in the final phase of China’s regulatory process and, if approved, may be planted on as many as 100,000 acres next year, Kau said.

Chinese farmers spend $200 million a year on phytase for animal feed and $1.1 billion on corn seed, he said. The company plans to combine phytase and glyphosate resistance in a so- called double-stack corn seed once both products are approved, Kau said.

Origin Agritech surged $1.09, or 23 percent, to $5.88 at 5:20 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have almost tripled this year.

Chairman Gengchen Han, who graduated from Iowa State University in 1987 with a doctorate in plant breeding and genetics, founded Origin Agritech in 1997 and listed the company on the Nasdaq in 2004.