"去年拥有政府背景的湖南新大新股份有限公司(Hunan Xindaxin Co) 向奥瑞金种业股份有限公司(Origin Agritech Ltd.)主动提出了600亿美元收购提议。后者是纳斯达克上市公司，也是首家拥有获准在国内市场进行商业销售的转基因玉米品种的企业。去年11月，奥瑞金拒绝了这一收购提议。* * * 奥瑞金董事长韩庚辰接受采访时表示 * * * [from English original, which does not appear in the translation] James Chen, Agritech’s chief financial officer {I am showing the executives of Origin Agritech are Chinese]
China is "[t]he world’s second-largest seed market, after the US * * * Seeds from foreign ventures supply about 20% of the market, but that is likely to rise as a gulf in quality widens between local and foreign products, growers and analysts say.
"The number of domestic seed-sector acquisitions last year tripled from 2012, according to research firm CCM. Shenzhen-listed Yuan Longping High-Tech Agriculture Co 袁隆平农业高科技股份有限公司 was among the most aggressive, buying out at least three smaller seed makers since 2013. Still, it is unrealistic to expect the dawn of a Chinese Monsanto within five years, according to ChinaAg 中华农业网. But China’s size confers an advantage. Its largest producer, Longping, has a market value [not revenue] of 20.2 billion yuan ($3.26 billion), making it the world’s fourth-biggest seed maker by that measure. The problem is that Longping—whose parent is Hunan Xindaxin—acts as a loose patchwork of related producers, rather than a single corporate giant, said Syngenta’s [regional head for China] Mr [Pierre] Cohadon.
"China’s key deficit is in research and development, analysts say. * * * Longping [the company] said its R&D in 2013 totaled $15 million—less than 1% of what Monsanto spends.
"China currently allows imports of genetically modified animal feed and bans genetically modified organisms, save papayas, for human consumption.
Note:
(a) None of the English-language quotations is translated.
(b) The English original is not published in today's US edition (so I do not know where it is published--in Asia?--or when). Still this (English) report is informative.