DuPont says U.S. must curb Monsanto seed monopoly

KANSAS CITY Jan 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. government needs to rein in Monsanto's anti-competitive behavior, which is hurting the U.S. seed business and limiting innovation needed to feed a growing world population, one of the industry's biggest seed companies said in a report filed with government regulators on Friday.

DuPont (DD.N), which owns Monsanto rival Pioneer Hi-Bred International, said Monsanto Co (MON.N) is unfairly using monopoly powers to drive up prices and stymie competition.

The 18-page report of allegations was made to the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday in advance of a public hearing on competition and antitrust concerns in the seed industry slated for March.

"Monsanto has engaged in numerous practices that improperly seek to expand the scope of intellectual property rights at the expense of competition, innovation, and choice," the DuPont report states.

Monsanto officials did not immediately respond, but the St. Louis-based company filed its own comments with regulators last month, arguing that such allegations are unjustified.

Monsanto, which commercialized the world's first biotech crop in 1996, said there is ample competition, with a broad array of seed product choices and prices across all crops.

DuPont is Monsanto's chief rival in the highly profitable U.S. biotech seed arena, and the two are currently suing each other over over a soured licensing deal.

In the comments filed Friday, DuPont said Monsanto has monopoly in the market for soybean and corn traits - genetics that help make the crops fight off pests and withstand weed-killing treatments. It said Monsanto coerces seed dealers, farmers and others into arrangements that perpetuate an ongoing reliance on high-priced Monsanto products.

DuPont estimates through its branded products and licensing, Monsanto has 98 percent of the U.S. soybean market and 79 percent of the corn market, along with 60 percent of the corn and soy germplasm licensed in the U.S.

"The ag biotech trait market is firmly in the grip of a single supplier, acting as a bottleneck to competition and choice... it also threatens the global goals for agriculture in the 21st Century doubling the world's food supply by 2050," the DuPont report states.

Officials with St. Louis, Missouri-based Monsanto declined to comment but last month filed its own report with USDA and the Justice Department denying anti-competitive conduct.

"We're confident an objective review will reveal competition is alive and flourishing in the seed market," Monsanto said in that report.

Monsanto pegs its market share for its branded corn seed at about 36 percent; branded soy seed at 29 percent share; and cotton at 41 percent in the United States.

Monsanto said in its comments to regulators that last year there were 4,381 corn hybrids, including both biotech and non-biotech hybrids, and 2,126 varieties of soybean seed available to U.S. farmers.

"No single company has a dominant share of seed sales in corn, soybean or cotton," Monsanto said.

Neither the USDA nor the Justice Department would comment Friday. (Additional reporting by Diane Bartz and Christopher Doering in Washington; Reporting by Carey Gillam; Editing by Marguerita Choy)