CHINA ENDORSES DEAL ON GMO SOYBEANS
Story by Richard Cowan
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON, 4th December 2001 - China has formally embraced a tentative deal reached in October with the United States removing obstacles to the shipment of genetically-modified soybeans from the United States, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative said yesterday.
"In a Nov. 26 letter, China confirmed it will accept" the language worked out in October to accept U.S. certificates on the safety of U.S.-grown soybeans, USTR said in a statement. Nearly 70 percent of U.S. soybeans are grown from genetically modified seeds.
This interim deal is to be in place until China comes forth with regulations to implement a law that went into June 6 on bioengineered foods.
Since the October agreement, U.S. soybean sales to China have resumed and the Nov. 26 letter likely will give further assurances to importers and exporters about China's soybean market.
China is the largest export market for U.S. soybeans. The U.S. industry is hoping to ship $1 billion worth in the coming year.
USTR also said it is dispatching its lead agriculture negotiator, Allen Johnson, to China in mid-December to further discuss the GMO issue.
Once China issues its new regulations governing imports of genetically modified foods, USTR said it expects Beijing "to provide for an appropriate grace period" before enforcing those regulations.
On Friday, Gil Griffis, director of Asian sales for the American Soybean Association, expressed concern that China had not yet formally announced its acceptance of the deal reached in October.
While U.S. soybean shipments have gone forward since October, Griffis fretted that those shipments were only related to contracts signed before China's June 6 law went into effect.
A formal announcement by China accepting the October deal, Griffis said, was what was needed to spur new contracts.
From October, when the U.S.-China deal was tentatively reached, through mid-November, the United States sold nearly 1.7 million tonnes of soybeans to China, slightly more than the same period last year, Griffis said.