US hopes China will approve more GMO corn for import

The US hopes that more varieties of its genetically modified ( GMO) corn will be approved for import by China, the newly appointed US Ambassador to China Terry Branstad said on Wednesday.

The comments came after the world’s top grains buyer approved a new strain of US GMO corn for import from Dow AgroSciences.

“We are hopeful that other ... corn traits can also be approved,” said Branstad, who arrived in Beijing on Tuesday to take up his new post.

Along with Dow’s Enlist corn, Monsanto’s Vistive Gold soybeans were also approved for import, China’s Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement on June 14.

China does not permit the planting of GMO food crops, but does allow some GMO imports for use in animal feed.

China is the world’s top buyer of GMO soybeans. From January to May this year, imports reached 37.12 million tons, 20 percent higher than the same period of last year.

But getting a new GMO crop variety approved for import typically takes around six years, compared with less than three years in other major markets, forcing leading agrichemical players to restrict sales during China’s review process.

This month’s approvals of new GMO imports follow an agreement by the two nations in May, when China promised to speed up the evaluation of eight US varieties of GMO crops by the end of the month under a trade deal with the US.