State-backed ChemChina made a record $43 billion bid this week to buy agrochemicals company Syngenta. But some in the agriculture industry believe a pending deal would create a long list of problems, including new national security concerns.
Skeptics include the National Farmers Union (NFU).
Its president, Roger Johnson, released the following statement:
Today’s announcement is cause for concern among everyone in U.S. agriculture, especially farmers. NFU will pay particularly close attention to the alarming trend of Chinese government-owned entities purchasing U.S. and other agricultural companies. Most recently, Chinese company Shuanghui International acquired U.S. pork producer Smithfield.
In this case, Syngenta would be owned by a company controlled by the Chinese government. For an increasingly consolidated sector of agriculture, this is of particular concern since state-owned businesses frequently do not act in economically rational or predictable ways…
Source: NFU Statement on Syngenta Merger