Ethanol Blog

A dispute over China's rejection of an unapproved GMO corn variety could come to an end, if the country's recent renewal of expired import certificates of several other strains leads to acceptance of the MIR 162 corn, according to a story by Reuters (http://reut.rs/…).

Since Christmas, China rejected 600,000 tons of U.S. corn and about 2,000 tons of dried distillers grains shipments that contained the MIR 162 trait, commonly known as Agrisure Viptera produced by Syngenta Ag. The sudden stop in trade to the U.S.' largest export market for DDG caused a glut in the market and sent prices spiraling downward. In early January, Reuters reported that China had begun to accept some of the DDG shipments that had been placed in quarantine, with reports that more and more DDG would be accepted in coming weeks, thereby helping prices recover.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said at a recent convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation that he believes the renewal of the expired import certificates is an encouraging sign to end the MIR 162 dispute.

"These were renewals, so it's not new, but it's comforting to the companies who had been waiting for quite some time for this," Vilsack said. "These renewals had been sitting on the desks of ministers for some time so that was a positive step."

Typically, China does not begin its acceptance process of GMO varieties until they are approved in the U.S., so some find it puzzling that China rejected MIR 162 corn recently and it has been approved in the U.S. since 2011.

Vilsack added that there is no specific timeframe for China to accept the MIR 162 trait and said because of the country's need to upgrade systems and several political issues, the U.S. will need to be patient.

Cheryl Anderson can be reached at Cheryl.anderson@dtn.com.

(ES)

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