Monsanto Company F1Q09 (Qtr End 11/30/08) Earnings Call Transcript

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2009-01-07 14:12:14.0

Tags: Seeking Alpha, Monsanto Co.

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

Thank you, ma'am. (Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Jeffrey Zekauskas - J.P. Morgan.

Jeffrey Zekauskas - J.P. Morgan

Just a quick two-part question. The first is that in Robb's slide on the pipeline, tolerant corn seems more or less equal with SmartStax in Phase 4, so does that mean that drought tolerant corn could come to market in 2011?

And the second part is on your balance sheet you have a line of grower production accruals that went from $172 million to $654 million. Can you explain what that is and the significance of it is?

Hugh Grant

Robb, maybe a word on acceleration potential and then Terry on accruals on production?

Robb Fraley

So, Jeff, I appreciate your enthusiasm there. We just submitted the very first regulatory approval for drought tolerance to the FDA. We've got a lot of work to do on all the international approvals for this product, so I think the standard timing we've laid out in our phases is the benchmark we should use at this point.

Jeffrey Zekauskas - J.P. Morgan

So that means 2012, right?

Robb Fraley

Yes.

Hugh Grant

Thereabouts, yes.

Terry Crews

And relative to grower accruals, that really is the accrual that we have for the seed that we're growing to sell our contract growers, and it's up just because we would anticipate more sales, therefore grew more bushels that we owe to growers. And secondly, the higher commodity prices is taking it up some. So it's a normal increase that we would see in our business for this time of the year.

Operator

Your next question comes from Prashant Juvekar - Citigroup.

Prashant Juvekar - Citigroup

A question on [glufosinate]. You know, there were some major glufosinate contracts that expired at the end of '08. Do those contracts get repriced higher?

Hugh Grant

I'm trying to think what expired by the end of '08, P.J.

Terry Crews

P.J., I think you're probably referring to some of our supply agreements.

Prashant Juvekar - Citigroup

Yes.

Terry Crews

They expire at various times. Some of them have been renewed, and we obviously can't discuss the pricing of them. I think that what I would want to leave, though, you with is that the reason we're seeing the increase in glufosinate is due to the branded business. It's largely been a Brazil business. Even though I can't really give pricing on those contracts, what I can say is that the growth in our business is still driven by our branded business, largely driven by our Brazilian branded business, in the first quarter.

 

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