China, the top customer for U.S. farm exports, is delivering on a promise to speed up review of import applications, part of the two nations’ 100-day timetable for resolving trade issues. Its Agriculture Ministry approved import of an insect-resistant GMO corn strain by Syngenta and a glyphosate-tolerant GMO corn variety by Monsanto, the second time in a month that U.S. biotech strains have been cleared for import, said Reuters.
“The move brings total approvals to four,” said Reuters. Still pending are four other applications from Monsanto, DuPont and Dow. Approved last month were a Dow GMO corn variety and a Monsanto GMO soybean strain. U.S. officials have pressed China for years to act more rapidly on approval of GMO products and to provide more detail about its review processes.
China does not allow cultivation of GMO food crops but it imports large quantities of soybeans and corn for use in livestock rations. The United States is the world’s largest corn and soybean producer, with GMO seeds accounting for all but a sliver of the output.