China Says “Not So Fast” on Syngenta’s Claims of Approval of Viptera MIR 162

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Yesterday reports were China had approved Syngenta’s GMO Viptera corn product. We explained why such talk was premature and why it wasn’t likely to help Kentucky or Indiana farmers anytime soon in this post. It seems the lawyers at the Poppe Law Firm^® might have their suspicions confirmed. Reports today are that “even though China’s bio-safety committee had cleared the strain from a food safety standpoint, the agriculture ministry needed to give its stamp of approval.” This is something not likely to occur before January or February of 2015 according to some Chinese corn importers.

At least three Chinese importers speculate the reason for the reports of China approving the corn had less to do with any official information from the Chinese Ministry and more to do with a sudden big order of U.S. distillers , a corn by product, fueling expectations of an approval.

As we explained yesterday, even immediate approval of Viptera is likely to have little impact on U.S. Corn prices as China has stockpiled non-U.S. corn and has not approved other Syngenta GMO products, like Agrisure Duracade. Until Syngenta obtains Chinese approval for it, China may continue to reject U.S. corn, further injuring U.S. corn farmers, corn elevator operators and others here in Kentucky and Indiana.