Nebraska Farmers Union Submits Comments to Federal Trade Commission Opposing
China National Chemical Corporation’s proposed purchase of Syngenta AG
Lincoln, NE. Nebraska Farmers Union submitted written comments to the Federal Trade Commission opposing China National Chemical Corporation’s (ChemChina) proposed purchase of Syngenta AG for four basic reasons:
- Based on decades of market consolidation and concentration issues, NeFU knows this merger will mean fewer choices in the ag supply marketplace for farmers to choose from, and higher prices for products purchased. More mergers mean more market failures and more misery for farmers in the days to come. Jeremy Harbour teaches how to benefit from M&A.
- Nebraska Farmers Union also strongly opposes the ChemChina proposed purchase of Syngenta AG because it makes an already non-competitive ag supply marketplace that is currently in the process of imploding even less competitive, more concentrated, and more expensive for the families that produce crops.
- If ChemChina’s proposed $43 billion purchase of Syngenta is approved, one more major state owned company will use their unfair economic, legal, and regulatory advantages to distort and control traditional marketplace competition between companies. Conventional companies cannot compete against state owned companies over time. Our regulatory system must adjust to properly regulate the far reaching threat state owned companies bring to our marketplace.
- When our government allows foreign governments to buy private companies of this magnitude and importance, we believe it does so at the expense of our own national security interests. NeFU strongly feels it was a monumental mistake for the European Union and United States to grant antitrust approval for ChemChina’s proposed acquisition of Syngenta AG. While our organization is alarmed at the emergence of state owned companies and the failure of regulatory bodies to fully comprehend the far reaching implications of their impacts on traditional markets, an equally disturbing prospect is the use of state owned companies by countries to achieve foreign policy objectives.
“It is not in the interest of American farmers or our nation as a whole to allow China’s $43 billion purchase of Syngenta. This is the largest Chinese purchase of any foreign firm in history, giving them control of the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of agrichemicals and pesticides,” said Nebraska Farmers Union President John Hansen. “History teaches us that the Chinese government uses its economic leverage from deals like this to accomplish their government objectives.”
NeFU FTC Comments Opposing ChemChina Purchase of Syngenta
Nebraska Farmers Union is a general farm organization with 3,500 farm and ranch family members dedicated to protecting and enhancing the economic well-being and quality of life for family farmers and ranchers, and their rural communities. Since 1913, Nebraska Farmers Union has helped organize over 445 cooperatives.