The United States is running into trouble selling corn to
China because a couple of shipments have been rejected as contaminated with a
genetically-modified variety marketed by Syngenta.
The Chinese are close to granting approval for Syngenta’s
Agrisure Viptera (MIR162), but so far it remains on the rejected list and is
the reason why a 60,000-tonne shipment was rejected at Fujian province in
mid-November and another 1,225-tonne shipment in 49 containers at Shenzen.
Feed millers have said the situation is now chaotic as they
scramble to meet Chinese standards.
Agrisure Viptera has approvals from the European Union,
South Korea and Japan.
China is short of corn and has been placing more orders, but
a big U.S. crop, some of it yet to be harvested, has pushed global corn prices
down by about 40 per cent.
