BASF May Abandon Genetically Modified Crops for European Market

BASF SE, the world's largest chemicals company, may abandon research into genetically modified crops for the European market should it fail to get approval for its engineered Amflora potato.

``America, with Asia, is so attractive that even if Europe doesn't work out, we will do this without Europe,'' Juergen Logemann, a vice-president at BASF's plant science division, said today at a conference in Berlin. ``Europe is not mission- critical.''

BASF, based in Ludwigshafen, Germany, in July filed a case with the European Court in Luxembourg saying the European Commission failed to act on the approval of Amflora, which is modified to produce just the starch needed in the paper and textile industries. The potato is the company's only project developed for solely European markets, and Logemann called it ``our ice-breaker in Europe.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Sheenagh Matthews in Frankfurt at smatthews6@bloomberg.net.

(By Naomi Kresge and Sheenagh Matthews, Bloomberg, 18/09/2008)