A number of companies of different industries are getting into seed business to benefit from the good development tendency of seed industry, according to CCM’s August issue of Seed China News.

1. More Players Enter Seed Industry
Summary: A number of companies of different industries are getting into seed business to
benefit from the good development tendency of seed industry, according to CCM’s August
issue of Seed China News.
Tags: seed, seed industry, Bright Group, Bright Seed, Bright Rice, breeding, Shanghai Academy
of Agricultural Sciences, hybrid rice seeds, hybrid corn seeds, sweet corn varieties, cabbage
varieties, spinach varieties, Syngenta
A number of companies from different industries are getting into seed business, in order to benefit
from the good development tendency of domestic seed industry. Under the situation of industrial
reorganization promoted by the government, the entrance of those companies would bring more
competition to seed business while accelerating industrial prosperity, according to CCM’s August
issue of Seed China News.
Bright Food (Group) Co., Ltd. (Bright Group), a leading food conglomerate headquartered in
Shanghai City, announced the establishment of an affiliated company called "Bright Seed
Industry Co., Ltd." (Bright Seed) on 18 Aug. 2011. It is understood that, Bright Seed is a wholly-
owned subsidiary of Bright Rice Industry Co., Ltd. (Bright Rice) which is a subsidiary of Bright
Group.
According to Wang Zongnan, president of Bright Group, the newly founded company shall focus
on building commercial breeding system, aiming to develop into a national seed enterprise with
integration of breeding, propagation and promotion.
Bright Seed has signed licensing agreements for new varieties with some research units, such as
Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences (SAAS), Wujin Rice Research Institute (Jiangsu
Province), etc., total contract value reaching USD3.26 million (RMB21 million). The company has
been authorized by Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences to operate some new varieties of
japonica rice and beer barley.
In order to build a platform for crop breeding, Bright Seed is going to carry out extensive and
deeper cooperation with research units or universities. In the early period, the company probably
chooses Shanghai suburbs and Northern Jiangsu as primary markets, mainly selling rice seeds
and wheat seeds.

2. Bright Seed intends to establish its perfect sales network, through cooperation with seed
distributors of counties. The company also says, it will cooperate with 1-2 large grain seed
enterprises of Yangtze River Delta region before 2015, to expand its sales market.
It is worthwhile to note that, Shanghai Government just issued the implementation guideline of
developing modern seed industry on 5 Aug. 2011. It can be speculated that Bright Seed would
benefit a lot from government's preferential measures including financial support, R&D subsidies,
tax relief, etc. Besides, the competitive environment was relatively relaxed for Bright Seed, as
there have been only a few seed companies possessing breeding capacity in Shanghai.
As a large enterprise group, Bright Group already owns four listed subsidiaries, business domain
covering modern agriculture, food manufacturing and chain commercial industry. With
tremendous capital and perfect industry chain, its new seed business would obtain fast
development in future.
Sichuan Leshan Fuhua Agrochemical Technology Co., Ltd. (Sichuan Fuhua), a large group
centering on pesticide production, also announced to get into seed business early this year. The
company has been trapped in poor glyphosate business, due to the severe overcapacity in
glyphosate industry.
According to Zhanghua, president of Sichuan Fuhua, the company plans to acquire several seed
companies within 2011, investing greatly to build breeding bases and an R&D center. It is
expected that the company shall build the seed sales network by setting chain stores and on-line
shops.
It was reported that Sichuan Fuhua has carried out cooperation with Sichuan Agricultural
University and Leshan Institute of Agricultural Sciences, in breeding research and project
building. Besides, the company is also seeking cooperation with foreign companies, in order to
develop the transgenic seed business.
At present, Sichuan Fuhua owns a seed subsidiary, Sichuan Zhengqi Agriculture Development
Co., Ltd. (Sichuan Zhengqi), which was founded in 2002. The subsidiary has been mainly
engaged in sales and production of hybrid rice seeds and hybrid corn seeds. With operating
rights of a number of rice varieties and large area of rice seed production bases, Sichuan Zhengqi
has strong competitive advantage in local area.

3. Sichuan Fuhua owns great investment capacity and solid sales network of pesticides. If the
company is able to obtain competitive crop varieties and strengthen the R&D capacity by
collaborating with research institutes, its momentum of seed business should not be ignored.
Guangdong Tianhe Agricultural Materials Co., Ltd. (Guangdong Tianhe), a leading distributor of
agrochemicals in Guangdong Province, already founded a seed subsidiary in late 2010. It chose
to first distribute vegetable seeds to initiate its seed business.
Guangdong Tianhe has introduced several vegetable varieties from Syngenta, including sweet
corn varieties, cabbage varieties, spinach varieties, etc. The company has maintained a good
relationship with Syngenta for a long time before the cooperation on seed business. Besides,
Guangdong Tianhe also markets vegetable seeds, such as bitter gourd varieties, eggplant
varieties, etc., from Guangzhou Vegetable Science Research Institute.
The company has a strong distribution network of pesticide and fertilizer, which should be of great
help to the marketing of vegetable seeds. Meanwhile, the addition of Guangdong Tianhe would
make the competition of vegetable seed market more intense especially in Guangdong, since
there have been a large number of vegetable seed companies in local.
Overall, adequate funds, good relationship with research units and governments, and perfect
sales network are all essential for new players to get into seed industry and compete with a large
number of existing counterparts. With the entering of new competitors and the promotion from the
government, China's seed industry is going to see more transformation in future.
(Guangzhou China, September 1, 2011)
Source: Seed China News 1108
http://www.cnchemicals.com/Newsletter/NewsletterDetail_28.html
Content of Seed China News 1108:
Administration of Seed Industry to be founded
Seedling industry prospering in Shouguang City
More players enter seed industry
Hefei Fengle underperforms in corn seed business
Shandong Denghai's performance declines in H1 2011
Gansu Dunhuang sufferes loss in H1 2011

4. Liaoning Dongya considered another partner of foreign counterparts
China's soybean planting area continues to decrease
China makes breakthrough in brown planthopper-resistant rice
Seed treatment in rice needs urgent improving
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