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Biotech / Medical : Monsanto Co. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TheSlowLane who wrote (58)	1/5/1998 11:37:00 PM
From: Dan Spillane	Respond to of 2539

Wow. Looks like the revenues for the cotton will be up more than an incredible 600 percent this year; i.e. 500 percent acreage * 1.2 for price increase. ====================================================================== SAN DIEGO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Monsanto Co said it will price its Roundup Ready cotton at $7 to $9 per acre in 1998, compared with $5 to $8 per acre last year. The cotton seed, which was introduced in 1997, allows farmers to spray with herbicides -- such as Monsantos's Roundup -- that will kill damaging weeds without harming the cotton plant. In 1997, 4,200 growers planted 800,000 acres of Roundup Ready cotton and Monsanto estimated that cottonseed containing the Roundup Ready gene will be planted on up to 4.5 million acres in 1998. The company's projection for a more than five-fold increase in Roundup Ready planted acreage came despite complaints by some cotton farmers in the Mississippi Delta of boll drop in some 10,000 planted acres during 1997. Monsanto said its team of scientists and agronomists sent to investigate the situation found "the problem is not the seed itself or the biotechnology," but could be linked to potential issues such as the "peculiarities of the growing season in 1997 and agricultural practices -- including variety selection and use of Roundup." Monsanto also markets budworm and bollworm resistant Bt (bacillus thuringiensis) cotton under the name of Bollgard. The company estimated Bollgard cotton acres in 1998 will increase by about 20 percent versus 2.5 million acres planted the previous year. Bollgard cotton is priced at $32 per acre in 1998. The company said a limited amount of cotton varieties containing the Bollgard and Roundup Ready genes will also be available at $41 per acre.

To: TheSlowLane who wrote (58)	1/6/1998 1:32:00 AM
From: Dan Spillane	Respond to of 2539

More on revenue potential regarding transgenic RR cotton... Note...there is also a correspondingly large increase in potential for Roundup sales (also sold by Monsanto) beyond the apparent 600% increase in RR transgenic cotton revenues. That's because with the transgenic cotton fields may have numerous applications of Roundup, whereas previously, common varieties could only have one application. It would seem Roundup sales could easily grow several fold as well. The bottom line is that Monsanto wins on several counts. But there is another major factor to consider; recent lower ag commodity prices will put a higher demand on Monsanto's transgenic products since using them is the way farmers can boost profits -- particularly consider the position of US farmers. Something not widely recognized. Keep in mind, there are also large increases in MTC transgenic soybeans and corn slated for 1998. Things could really start paying off for Monsanto in 1998. Dan

To: TheSlowLane who wrote (58)	1/6/1998 2:27:00 AM
From: Dan Spillane	Respond to of 2539

Tenfold increase in Monsanto's YieldGard projected for 1998. This won't have the same "add-on" boost as the RR products...nevertheless, Monsanto benefits for each acre planted. In the article below, the tenfold increase for 1998 plantings are for the Monsanto YieldGard corn, although the announcement doesn't mention Monsanto (probably due to the fact that DuPont invested in Pioneer and they don't love Monsanto). Pioneer sees tenfold rise in YieldGard corn seed Reuters, Thursday, November 20, 1997 at 17:41 DES MOINES, Iowa, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc (NYSE:PHB) said it hoped to have three million units of corn seed with the YieldGard gene available for the 1998 North American harvest, a tenfold increase from 1997. "With good winter production approximately three million units of Pioneer corn hybrids with the YieldGard gene is expected to be available for 1998 planting,' said Bob Wichmann, vice president, North America sales, said in a news release. The YieldGard gene provides resistance to European corn borer. Seed is produced during the winter, mostly in Chile and Argentina, and shipped north in time for spring planting. Each unit has 80,000 kernels and seeds slightly more than three acres, the company said. Pioneer Hi-Bred sells seeds, microbial products and services to farmers, grain processors and other customers.