July 19, 2011

Western Australia struggles to sell GM rapeseed

Western Australian grain marketers have admitted that they are struggling to sell last year's genetically modified rapeseed crop.

About 49,000 tonnes of the GM product was harvested across the state last year, compared to several million tonnes of wheat.

They say both GM and non-GM rapeseed suffered low oil levels due to the poor finish to the year, but the larger volume of non-GM made it easier to blend with high oil-content rapeseed.

Michael Wallace, from AWB, says the problem was the low oil conent, not the GM status.

"There wasn't a huge amount of GM rapeseed grown, so therefore each company had a little bit," he said. "As more GM rapeseed is grown, there'll be more of it around, therefore each company will have a little bit more."

"That will make it easier and the prices will reflect that," he said.