Monsanto still seeking ideal partner

US seed and pesticide giant Monsanto said on Wednesday that it is still open to a possible merger with Germany’s Bayer.

Last month Monsanto rejected as “financially inadequate” a $62 billion takeover bid from Bayer, but discussions continued not only with Bayer but also other unspecified firms.

Monsanto made clear it was open to talking further and that it saw logic in combining Bayer’s broad range of pesticides with Monsanto’s seed, biotech and data science operations.

"While there is no formal update on the Bayer proposal, I have been personally in discussions with Bayer's management over the last several weeks, along with others regarding alternative strategic options," CEO Hugh Grant said in a statement announcing the company's latest quarterly earnings.

Those earnings dropped 37% in the fiscal third quarter with sales tapering off by nearly 9%.

A combination of Bayer and Monsanto would result in a new world leader in seeds, pesticides and genetically modified (GM) crops.

In the background are the proposed mergers involving US companies DuPont and Dow Chemical and Swiss company Syngenta and ChemChina as low crop prices mean less money for many agricultural products.

Monsanto’s big for Syngenta last year was not successful.

"Our industry is running at a low point in the overall agriculture cycle and we've experienced an unforeseen level of challenges affecting our business in fiscal year 2016," Grant said.

The world’s biggest seed company in terms of sales is having to deal with a fall in major crop prices and a drop in the price of herbicide glyphsate – sold as Roundup.

Farmers are concerned that consolidation will result in higher seed prices while environmentalists fear that Europe could be inundated with GM crops.

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