March 97
Verneuil in Hungary
On the 15th March 1997, VERNEUIL and MYCOGEN made
public their presence in Hungary by creating the firm VERNEUIL MYCOGEN
SEEDS (V.M.S.) KFT in Tata, near Budapest.
Hungary - which should enter the European Union soon
- is historically a key country in Central Europe and will play an
increasing role in particular in agriculture. Hungary is one of the
first countries which oriented itself towards Western countries.
Hungary benefits from high foreign investment so that its development
potential is relatively high.
For 10 years, Verneuil has worked in Hungary with
the Szeged GKI Institute to create new sunflower varieties together.
This cooperation led to the creation of various
hybrids, in particular U55 E, well known in Hungary where it
represents alone 18% of the market.
For its part, Mycogen succeeded in the registration
and development of 7 new classic and high oleic varieties in the main
types of sunflower cultivated in Hungary. Mycogen developed these
varieties with local partners.
7 new varieties from Verneuil / Mycogen are
currently in registration in Hungary, this offers good prospects in a
market of 400 to 450,000 ha.
Concerning maize, a 1,350,000 ha market, Verneuil
also worked on research with the Hungarian company AGROSELECT. This
cooperation led to the registration of the variety ASZ (UNITED AGRI
SEEDS) and should soon lead to other registrations.
Finally, the wheat THESEE is already successfully
developed in the North-East of Hungary where other Verneuil cereals
whould soon be registered.
V.M.S. KFT is headed by Mr. Lajos ZUBEK, the former
representative of Mycogen in Hungary.
Thanks to the above, V.M.S. KFT should confirm the
very good results of the Verneuil/Mycogen hybrids in Central Europe,
in particular regarding sunflower where V.M.S. has a combined
marketshare of around 30%.