October 30, 2000

U.S. grain exporters are relieved that the government will allow exports of corn tainted with the controversial bioengineered StarLink variety, REUTERS reports. The Agriculture Department announced last week that corn that was inadvertently commingled with traces of StarLink could be exported under certain conditions, including the requirement that it be used only for feed or non-food industrial uses.

However, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL reports that the Japanese Agriculture Ministry has asked visiting U.S. officials to be sure StarLink corn isn't shipped to Japan. The article notes that many Japanese food companies have already taken steps to use non-genetically modified grains in their production.

Despite concern in the grain trade, U.S. export levels do not seem affected yet by the uproar over StarLink, which was approved for feed but not food use in the United States. Aventis SA, which released the variety, is buying up as much of the crop as it can locate at a premium to current cash prices, with USDA acting as the buyer. But not all the corn has been located.

USDA says that of about 80 million bushels of 2000-crop StarLink corn, about 1.2 million bushels are still unaccounted for, according to REUTERS.