Bayer sees an upside if US-China trade war leads to more maize output
Monheim — Bayer said on Tuesday it would be difficult to predict 2019 earnings at its agriculture business, which now includes Monsanto, because a US-Chinese trade dispute could reroute trade flows in farming commodities. The head of Bayer’s crop science division told Reuters his company could even benefit if US farmers switched to grow more maize to avoid barriers to the soya bean trade imposed by China in response to US tariffs on Chinese products. The combination of Bayer-Monsanto has a much bigger market share in maize seeds and related crop protection products than in the soya market, so it could capture more of that growth. "The big unknown next year will be how US farmers react to the Chinese-US trade war," Liam Condon said on the sidelines of a news conference at the division’s headquarters in Monheim, Germany. "There could even be a positive development, when US farmers for instance grow less soy and more corn," he said, adding China mainly relied on the US for soya imports...
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