China rejects 545,000 tonnes of US corn after finding unapproved strain
The rejection of US supplies by the world’s No 3 corn importer could drag on Chicago Board of Trade corn prices which dropped to a three-year low earlier this month. The volume rejected amount to nine cargoes, accounting for nearly 30% of China’s expected imports of the grain in November and December, analysts said.
The rejections were due to the presence of the genetically modified strain MIR 162, which is not approved by China’s agriculture ministry, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine said.
US officials had earlier said they would urge China to act promptly to approve the variety, known as agrisure viptera and developed by Syngenta.
Officials have raised the issue with their Chinese counterparts, US trade representative Michael Froman told reporters at the end of annual talks between the countries in Beijing.
“He did have discussions with his counterparts around this issue, and more generally, around the issue of developing a regulatory, transparent, and reliable regulatory programme for dealing with biotechnology events,” Froman said, referring to Tom Vilsack, the US agriculture secretary.
“This is an issue that is certainly very much on... our agenda,” said Michael Froman, without giving any further details.
China has already approved 15 varieties of genetically-modified corn for imports and MIR 162 is awaiting approval.
“The safety evaluation process (for MIR 162) has not been completed and no imports are allowed at the moment before the safety certificate is issued,” said Niu Dun, China’s deputy agricultural minister.
China’s quarantine authority rejected the first cargo in November after detecting the MIR 162.
The authority has asked the US to boost checks during production, transportation, and at storage facilities to avoid contamination, it said.
