US to press China on biotech food rules next week
Date: 31-Jan-02
Country: USA
The team will consist of USDA, U.S. Trade Representative and State Department officials.
"They will ask for clarification of biotech rules" that take effect March 20, said the USDA official, who asked not to be identified.
Those rules are particularly vexing to U.S. soybean exporters, since nearly 70 percent of U.S. soybeans are grown from genetically modified seeds and China, the world's largest importer of soybeans, is a $1 billion market.
U.S. industry and government officials have complained that China's new rules, which implement a law enacted last June, do not provide enough details to ensure a smooth flow of exports after March 20.
If recent history is any indication, the U.S. team in Beijing next week may not come away from its meetings fully satisfied.
Late last year, a similar contigent of bureaucrats traveled to China to pressure officials to publish the very rules that are now being labeled as vague.
But it wasn't until weeks later, when political heavyweights, including U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and President George W. Bush, pitched the U.S. soybean industry's cause that China gave verbal assurances of continued trade.
Similarly, the U.S. officials in Beijing next week will preceed a visit set for late February by Bush.
Seasonal factors provide some cushion for U.S. officials trying to iron out this trade problem.
U.S. soybean sales accelerate in the fall, as the crop is being harvested, and begin to fall off in March, to be replaced largely by South American shipments.
USDA forecasts China's imports of soybeans will hit 14.0 million tonnes during the 2001/02 marketing year (Sep-Aug).
