China's GM policy remains unclear

Lead: Reuters news on Friday, U.S soybean industry leaders said they will work with their own government to require China to set up a grace period as soon as possible before the implementation of new regulations on genetically modified food After attending a week-long trade seminar in China, U.S soybean industry leaders said they expected to return empty handed by the end of the week and failed to gain more understanding of how Beijing plans to implement the controversial new regulations on the import of genetically modified food Since the new regulation was promulgated on June 6, traders have been puzzled by the uncertainty surrounding the regulation, which has hindered us soybean export orders to China China is the biggest buyer of American soybeans Bart Ruth, President of the American Soybean Association (ASA), and Doug Magnus, President of the United Soybean Association (USB), had been hopeful that Chinese officials would reveal how long grace periods might be allowed before the new rules were implemented But Ruth said they had no chance to talk to Chinese officials about GM in Beijing or Shanghai, and no formal meeting had been arranged "We will continue to work with the U.S government and the U.S Agriculture Council in China," Ruth told Reuters by telephone after a seminar on Friday We will continue to seek to be able to reach a resolution on the current situation " A trade adviser with the U.S Department of Agriculture said this week that senior U.S Department of agriculture officials have repeatedly urged China to clarify its genetically modified regulations, but Beijing has so far remained silent Earlier this week, long Yongtu, China's chief trade negotiator, said China might allow a grace period and would carefully design rules for the implementation of regulations governing genetically modified organisms But dragon didn't provide a schedule "We still have to follow the June 6 deadline for now, and unless that date is moved to a certain time in the future, the market will not actively start contract procurement," Ruth said Friday The new regulations, issued in June, have unnerved the market, as traders fear that once they are implemented, cargo ships may not be able to pass stricter quarantine regulations "If someone buys a boat of soybeans, it may take three weeks to get them to China, and in those three weeks, China may introduce some rules that no one can understand, and then terminate the grace period, which is the problem we have to face," Magnus said Thursday Analysts believe that China's soybean imports may gradually dry up in the next few months if it fails to resolve the issue of genetically modified regulations soon China's crushing industry has an annual processing capacity of 25 million tons, and usually prefers foreign soybeans, because the oil yield of foreign soybeans is higher than that of self-produced soybeans From January to July, China imported 7.8 million tons of soybeans, an increase of 54.6 percentage points over the same period last year Analysts say China could import 11 million to 12 million tons of soybeans this year if GM matters become clear soon.