Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor has slammed the arrogance of US agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) in its discussions with farming groups over the sale of Graincorp.

Mr Taylor said ADM had only itself to blame for today’s announcement by the Treasurer to block its takeover bid.

“Their unwillingness to agree to ongoing enforceable regulation of a unique market position has been arrogant. This is a business with higher market share than Coles and Woolworths combined, and they never accepted the implications of such a privileged position. The latest offer of additional money from ADM only 24 hours ago was simply a sugar coating,” Mr Taylor said.

“From soon after the bid was announced, I have been closely involved in discussions with grain growers from my electorate, including the head of the NSW Farmers Association Grains Committee Dan Cooper, the Foreign Investment Review Board and ADM. It became clear that ADM was not interested in the future that we all see for the industry.

“If the takeover had been approved with their proposed conditions, ADM would have been able to exploit an extraordinary market position, and that would have been a disaster for Australian growers.

“The failed bid by ADM has had one clear set of benefits. The threat of a takeover has galvanised the Australian grain growing industry into action. Growers are clear now on the future direction, but there’s much work to be done.

“The success of the grains industry relies on farmers working closely with Graincorp. There is an enormous opportunity as Asian markets continue to grow, but ADM was not the right partner to realise the opportunity,” he said.