The United States is trying to regain the share of Asian corn market

Introduction: Dow Jones Singapore, Sept 10: US corn growers are now seeking to regain their share of the lucrative corn markets in Japan and South Korea Japan and South Korea reduced imports of corn from the United States this year because of concerns that the imported corn may contain Starlink, a genetically modified corn that has not been approved for human consumption Japan usually imports 4 million tons of corn from the United States every year, but this year it plans to import only half of the past South Korea plans to import an unknown amount of American corn this year Japan and South Korea are the two largest corn importers in the world and the largest buyers of corn in the United States "In 2001, Starlink was not included in corn," said mark schweers, President of the inner lasgar corn grower association Schweers assured corn consumers in Japan, South Korea and other countries that this year's U.S corn will not contain any Starlink genetically modified corn during the adjournment of the Asia biotechnology conference Vic Miller, chairman of Iowa's corn Promotion Committee, added that American corn growers are working to restore confidence in American corn in Asia Asia is a major buyer of corn in the United States "Winning the market again requires a process of building confidence," Miller said We firmly believe that we can achieve this by providing the products that consumers need " South Korea and Japan import 24 million tons of corn every year The United States accounts for more than 90% of the Japanese corn market and about 40% of the Korean corn market However, Japan and South Korea are concerned about genetically modified food because it is not suitable for human consumption Both countries recently recalled food containing Starlink corn The Starlink dispute has prompted Japan and South Korea to reduce imports of corn from the United States and, instead, from South America, Europe and South Africa.