Activists approach Competition Commission to investigate Monsanto's dominance in South Africa http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/13163-activists-approach-competition-commission-to-investigate-monsantos-dominance-in-south-africa

Several groups in South Africa, including the African Centre for Biosafety (ACB), the Surplus People Project (SPP), Trust for Community Outreach (TCOE), the Food Sovereignty Campaign and Biowatch South Africa submitted a detailed report to the Competition Commission in support of their requests that the Commission investigate Monsanto's extraordinary market power in South Africa. The report, produced by the ACB,

titled 'Heavy Hands: Monsanto's control in South Africa' shows that Monsanto controls 50% of the maize seed market and in the rapidly growing market for genetically modified (GM) maize seed, the biotech giant's grip on the market is absolute. "Over the course of our investigation, we could only find one GM maize variety, of over 140 registered in South Africa, that contained GM technology not owned by Monsanto. Indeed, Monsanto's dominance has resulted in GM maize seed prices rising by over 45% in the last 5 years, while the price farmers receive for maize has stagnated", said ACB director Mariam Mayet.