Brazilian Court Suspends Royalty Payments to Monsanto
St. Louis Business Journal 13jan2005
A court in Brazil temporarily suspended royalty payments to Monsanto by about 8,700 farmers using its Roundup Ready soy seed, according to published reports.
The ruling applies to farmers in the Rio Grande do Sul state, the third-largest soy producing state in the country. The farmers, part of a cooperative, produced 102,000 metric tons of soy in 2003, most of its from genetically modified seeds. Brazil is the No. 2 soy producer in the world after the United States.
The cooperative said Monsanto should only be allowed to charge royalties on its seeds, but not the amount of soy produced, according to the report. Monsanto gets about 44 cents per 60-kilogram bag of soybeans. Until a final decision is made, royalty payments will go into escrow.
Monsanto said it would study the court's decision and decide if it might appeal.
St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. develops insect- and herbicide-resistant crops and other agricultural products.
source: http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2005/01/10/daily59.html?t=printable 21feb2005
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