BEIJING - Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc, which was bought by DuPont de Nemours and Co in 1997, and is one of the world's largest seed companies, will establish up to three new production plants and two new joint ventures in China in the next five years to meet the country's growing demand for corn, said William Niebur, vice-president and general manager in China.
The exact amount of investment is still undecided but will be "quite substantial", adding up to several "hundred million yuan", Niebur told China Daily in an exclusive interview.
"For DuPont's agricultural business, the Chinese corn market is the most exciting and important new growth opportunity in the world today, and we are very optimistic about the future," Niebur said.
Propelled by the booming developments in the processing and livestock-breeding industries, China's demand for corn has surged significantly during recent years.
In 2010, China's corn imports soared by a staggering 17.6 times year-on-year to 1.57 million tons, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.
Driven by a strong market, the company's business in the Chinese market grew "at a pace significantly faster than other businesses in other regions of the world for Pioneer", Niebur said. "Today, we see overall China corn yields as roughly half of that of North America. Our strategic imperative and goal is to raise the level of productivity in a sustainable manner, to a much more globally competitive level," he added.
Since entering China in 1997, the company has established three corn-seed production facilities in the country: One in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region and the other two in Gansu province.
Niebur said new production plants will be established in northwestern and southwestern regions such as Yunnan province, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and also the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region. This will allow the company to cover provinces such as Sichuan, Yunnan and Anhui.
"We see our future research and development and seed-production expansion being achieved both geographically and through increased investment in facilities, people and communities," Niebur said.
Currently, Pioneer has more than 600 employees in China. That number is expected to triple during the next five years to serve farmers across the country, Niebur said.
According to Chinese regulations, foreign companies are allowed to hold up to 49 percent of shares in a joint venture focusing on crop seeds such as soybean, corn and rice.
Encouraging performances and the increasing market share of foreign-invested companies have prompted concerns that global seed giants such as Pioneer, Monsanto and Syngenta may soon control China's seed industry.
Ma Wenfeng, a senior analyst at Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultant Ltd, one of the major consulting companies in China's agriculture sector, said the presence of foreign seed companies will help to spur the development of China's seed industry.
