Dow / Monsanto Announcement Call

"Today's announcement is one of many more to come". Andrew Liveris

Here are the key traits from Smartrax:

Durability.
-Combining multiple genes in a single package helps ensure sustainable insect protection and weed control year after year:
-Combined modes of action for insect protection guard against the development of insect resistance
-Combined herbicide tolerant traits that offer multiple modes of action for weed control

Performance.
-The complementary nature of the trait platforms converge to offer superior, season-long performance to farmers, notably:
-Enhanced control of a broader spectrum of above-and below-ground insects
-Most comprehensive protection against established and emerging secondary pests
-The industry’s best weed control system


US Corn Market Goal

Dow (DOW) looks to become the #3 US corn player with this deal. Currently they have 1% of the US market and Monsanto (MON) has 25% currently. DuPont's (DD) Pioneer is #2 with 10%. For Dow to become #3, this would take their market share from the current 1% to well over 5% of the US market (minimum 4.5 million acres of corn planting based on 2007 planting figures). Liveris did say he "has no doubt" Dow Agro has the ability to "be better than #3".

Dow did say they "are disproportionally strong in our technology vs our market share in the seed business." They expect this agreement with change that. Dow said "this will be the ultimate technology in corn."

Dow sees no competitors coming to market with anything similar before them.

Liveris was asked about Q3 earnings for the company as a whole and did touch on it. His answer was rather "cautiously optimistic" as he said. He did say that US energy policy is hurting the US competitive position in the world. There is enough natural gas off the US shore to power the US economy for 100 years yet current policies prohibits it's extraction.

Wonder why jobs are going overseas?


A full PDF. of the presentation is available here