March 6, 2014

Following submission of additional material to authorities in November, China's process to approve Syngenta's MIR162 genetically modified corn is underway, vice agriculture minister Niu Dun said.

After detecting the unapproved MIR162 in incoming shipments, China has officially rejected 887,000 tonnes of US corn since November last year. The raft of rejections has already prompted US seed dealers to offer farmers who ordered corn seed containing MIR162 an exchange for another variety.

Dun said the corn variety could be possibly approved within the first half of 2014 and the exact timing would depend on the agriculture ministry's biosafety committee.

Syngenta has been waiting for Chinese approval of its MIR162 corn since submitting an application in March 2010. The American chamber of commerce, which counts seed firms including Syngenta as members, last week complained that China's biotech approval process had become "slower, unpredictable and non-transparent".

At the end of this month, China's biosafety committee is scheduled to hold its annual meeting and if no decision is taken on Syngenta's pending application, the next opportunity for a review will be in June.

China is facing a domestic corn glut, with a new outbreak of bird flu and tumbling pork prices weighing on demand and prompting industry sources to suggest Beijing is in no hurry to clear the way for additional imports.