Chinese quarantine officials are barring imports of distillers dried grains from the United States because they may contain a genetically modified organism that is not approved by China, said Reuters. China also has rejected shipments of corn that contain the Syngenta corn variety MIR 162. A trading manager for a large Chinese company said quarantine officials nationwide have stopped issuing import permits for DDGs, a corn byproduct.
The disruption is likely to be short-lived, USDA chief economist Joe Glauber said at a conference in London, according to AgriMoney. Glauber said China needs imported grain in order to expand meat production. AgriMoney quoted Glauber as saying, “The discussion we have seen in the trade [over the corn and DDG import restrictions] will be temporary.”