May 4, 2005

South Korea wants test on Bt10 corn

The Korean Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) is requiring testing to confirm all food corn imports are free of Bt10, a variety that has not been approved in the country. The KFDA's requirement is a response to reports that the Bt10 variety had been released in small amounts in the United States.

Lacking a test that will isolate Bt10 corn, the KFDA is currently requiring shipments of US corn for food purposes that were shipped after March 25 to be tested for Bt11 corn as a means of screening imports for Bt10 as well.

South Korea has contracted for 6.5 million tonnes of corn for delivery in the first 10 months of the market year 2004-05. The contracts include 0.95 million tonnes from the United States, 0.86 million tonnes from China and 0.27 million tonnes from South America, according to a USDA report.

South Korea imported 1.7 million tonnes of corn from the US through the first six months of MY 2004-05 during a period when the availability of Chinese corn was limited.