In 2013, China drove down corn prices by rejecting U.S. cargoes that included a GMO variety sold by Syngenta that had not yet been approved for import by Beijing. The disruption led to lawsuits against the Swiss agribusiness, which may pay close to $1.5 billion to settle the litigation, said Reuters.
Syngenta confirmed that it had agreed to a settlement but did not disclose the amount pending submission of the proposal for court approval. Reuters said “a person familiar with the matter” had provided the dollar figure, first reported by Bloomberg. “The proposed settlement would allow both sides to avoid the uncertainty of ongoing litigation,” said Syngenta.
The agreement was reached amid a Minnesota state court trial in which 22,000 farmers were seeking $400 million in damages from the company. In July, a federal court jury awarded $217.8 million to 7,000 Kansas growers who said they had lost money because of the plunge in market prices. The lawsuits alleged Syngenta had acted negligently by selling its GMO seeds before China, the No. 1 customer for U.S. farm exports, had approved the strain for import. Syngenta said it did nothing wrong.
For the past few years, U.S. officials have urged China to act more rapidly and predictably on the approval of new GMO varieties.