Longping High-Tech Agriculture Co, an agricultural firm controlled by China conglomerate CITIC Group Corp, sees Brazil expanding corn output up to 5 percent per year in coming years and is investing heavily to grab a third of the country's corn seed market. Longping, which bought its corn seed business from DowDuPont Inc in Brazil for $1.1 billion last year, brought 400
people including partners, distributors and executives from Brazil's largest cooperatives to a luxury resort in Campinas, Sao Paulo state, this week to lay out its plans for the country.
The company said it will start building new seed plants in Brazil next year to increase production capacity beyond its current four installations. The plan is to boost its share in a market worth 15 billion reais ($4.02 billion) from 15 percent currently to 30 percent in five years.
The firm said a natural second step will be to enter the soy seeds business, which is dominated by US-based Monsanto Inc.
"You see the opportunity, you do the assessment, you calculate returns... we are open-minded, and the CITIC heads are very supportive," Kevin Chen, who oversees Longping's Brazilian projects, told reporters on Tuesday.
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