China's approval process for GMO grains 'overly political', says AmCham

Beijing's approval process for GMO grains has become "overly political", "unpredictable and non-transparent", an American industry group said yesterday, in the strongest criticism of mainland biotech policy since officials began rejecting thousands of tonnes of genetically modified corn last year.

"In recent years, China's biotech approval process has gone from being slow but predictable to even slower, unpredictable and non-transparent," said the American Chamber of Commerce in a policy report.

China is the world's top importer of soya beans and among the top importers of corn.

All of its soya bean imports are genetically modified. However, it rejected around a fifth of its corn imports last year after they were found to contain Syngenta's MIR612 gene, which has not been approved by Beijing.

China's approval of GMO crops for import has slowed from around two years to three years or longer, said David Yeh, vice-chairman of the group's agriculture forum.

Delayed approvals are a "major disruption to trade flows", said the report.