Farm Groups Urge Bush to Talk Biotech with the President of China

February 4, 2002

Four agricultural organizations want President Bush to discuss China's new biotechnology regulations that these groups say are trade restrictive and could disrupt U.S. trade with China. They urged Bush to bring up the matter when he meets this month with Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

China has established a deadline of March 20 to implement new regulations requiring safety certificates for biotechnology enhanced agricultural products. The letter, co-signed by the National Corn Growers Association, the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA), the North American Grain Export Association (NAGEA) and the U.S. Grains Council (USGC), said, "While we applaud the U.S. government's efforts to resolve the many uncertainties surrounding China's policy covering biotechnology-enhanced products, American farmers and commodity exporters are increasingly impatient over lost sales opportunities. The recently published regulations, effective March 20, 2002, are clearly trade restrictive and, if implemented, will seriously disrupt our markets within China."

NCGA Corn Board member and Dumas, Texas, farmer Dee Vaughan said while there has been speculation over the intent of the new Chinese regulations, NCGA is concerned about the lack of clarity in the proposed regulations and with the effect they will have on U.S. exports. "The Chinese contend that they have not rejected nor delayed a single corn shipment to date," said Vaughan. "However, sales are currently stalled because U.S. exporters find the heightened risks of contract cancellation, demurrage and vessel rejections unacceptable. We are concerned that the Chinese government will use the policy to close off corn imports."

The letter emphasized, "China's implementation of new registration requirements for biotechnology-enhanced products must not prevent the U.S. corn industry from taking advantage of a 5.85 million metric ton tariff-rate quota (valued at more than $500 million) this year.

The organizations' letter further pointed out, "With approximately 60 shipping days remaining before China's biotech policy takes effect, specific requirements would already have required clarification to avoid further lost opportunities for sales and to ensure China's compliance with its World Trade Organization obligations. Due to the unreasonable time limit, we ask that you take all measures to press for an extension of the March 20 deadline."