The U.S. Grain Council (USGC) says due to the ongoing issues surrounding the rejections of U.S. corn shipments to China because of the presence of unapproved GMO material, U.S. corn exports to the country will not meet USDA’s current projection of 7 MMT.
USGC president and CEO Tom Sleight says this situation has interrupted the pace of U.S. corn exports to China, but says the council remains engaged with all parties in China to keep this issue from becoming overstated.
“The key point is there are fundamental issues in China regarding biotech acceptance we have to address... we are stepping up our efforts on that front,” he said. “There are fundamental questions the Chinese want answered on meeting their food food security goals through trade. We are working on those issues diligently with China right now... If we keep at it we can get back to a normal trading relationship.”
Meanwhile, Sleight says the dynamics behind economic growth in China are real and this situation is just a momentary problem in the marketplace. USGC says it continues to work on the issues surrounding the biotech regulatory process with Chinese trade officials. “Their approval process has been cumbersome, it’s been somewhat non-transparent and unpredictable,” he says. “We’re seeing the worse-case scenario with those issues right now.”
A delegation from USGC is in China this week with hopes of gaining momentum toward the country’s approval of MIR 162 (Syngenta’s Agrisure Viptera).
