Syngenta To Collaborate With Chinese Institute On Improved Crop Traits

Syngenta (SYT), a large Swiss-based agribusiness company, signed a five-year research collaboration with the Institute of Genetics and Development Biology [IGDB], which is located in Beijing, China.

Under the agreement, the IGDB will identify and develop new agronomic traits - drought tolerance was mentioned as an example - for key crops, including corn, soybean, wheat, sugar beet and sugar cane. Syngenta will hold the rights to commercialize the new crops, which it will market in China as well as globally. The two entities did not disclose any financial details of the agreement.

Syngenta praised the IGDB for its knowledge of genetics, developmental biology and agricultural sciences. The company said the relationship would speed up development of new seed strains. IGDB said the collaboration allowed the institute to bring its discoveries to a world-wide arena. IGDB, which is part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, is one of China's leading biotechnology research institutes.

The collaboration will begin immediately.

Syngenta had $8.1 billion of revenue in 2006.

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Disclosure: none.