Based on comments from industry officials, two news outlets said China has approved Syngenta’s biotech MIR 162 corn but Reuters says there was no official word to the U.S. government. Nor did Syngenta make a statement on its Web page dedicated to MIR 162. The genetically engineered corn is the subject of dozens of lawsuits by farmers and exporters who say they lost money on rejected cargoes of the corn. China rejected more than 1 million tonnes of U.S. corn since 2013 because they contained the Syngenta strain. USDA approved the variety in April 2010 but China did not act as quickly.
The United States has pressed for China to act more promptly in its review of agricultural biotechnology. Reuters said traders were watching the annual U.S.-China trade consultations, now under way in Chicago, for word about the Syngenta strain.
China is the largest market for U.S. farm exports and among the top three markets for U.S. exports in general. USDA forecasts farm exports worth $25 billion to China this fiscal year, or 17 percent of all exports. China is a leading buyer of corn, soybeans and cotton.