U.S. Soy Sales to China Stop By PHILIP BRASHER .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. soybean shipments to China, a $1 billion-a-year market for American growers, have come to a standstill because of Chinese biotechnology regulations that take effect next month.
The rules, announced last year, require that U.S. shippers certify the safety of genetically engineered soybeans. Industry officials believe they can meet the standards but say it's unclear how the certification process will work. Exporters canceled contracts for shipments that wouldn't reach China before March 20, when the rules take effect. Lawmakers are pressing China to give the United States more time to comply with the rules. President Bush was expected to raise the issue during his two-day visit this week to China. ``It's extremely critical to soybeans,'' Bart Ruth, a Nebraska farmer who is president of the American Soybean Association, said Wednesday. ``China has become our single largest market over the last three years.'' About two-thirds of U.S. soybeans are genetically engineered so that the crop can survive when sprayed with a powerful weedkiller. The Chinese bought 5.2 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans last year, up from 4.3 million the previous year. U.S. farmers export about 27 million metric tons of soybeans annually. A team of Agriculture Department experts spent a week in China earlier this month trying without success to resolve the issue. ``The new sales have pretty much dried up. They can't really be shipped,'' said Mark Ash, a USDA economist. ``It's too close to the March 20 deadline for shipping soybeans to China now for them to get there in time to be unloaded.'' The Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus of Montana, and the panel's senior Republican, Charles Grassley of Iowa, wrote the Chinese government last Friday requesting a 12-month to 15-month delay in implementation of the rules. Their aides say such a period is consistent with practices of the World Trade Organization. China became a member of the WTO in December. ``The rules as they are currently written are not transparent or workable,'' the senators wrote. ``Our agricultural producers and exporters do not know exactly what information China requires them to provide.'' Officials at the Chinese embassy had no immediate comment Wednesday. One of the problem with the rules, according to U.S. officials, is that it isn't clear whether every shipment will have to be certified, or if a single certification could cover all American soybeans. The regulations give China up to nine months to approve the certification. On the Net: American Soybean Association: http://www.soygrowers.com AP-NY-02-20-02 1623EST ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Stock for $4. No Minimums. FREE Money 2002. http://us.click.yahoo.com/BgmYkB/VovDAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
