International Soy Growers Alliance Lobbies China to Approve Genetically Modified Varieties

On April 21, at the “2015 Biotechnology and Global Soy Trade Forum” held in Beijing by the International Soy Growers Alliance (ISGA), a 21st Century Business Herald reporter learned through an interview that the International Soy Growers Alliance will communicate with China's Ministry of Agriculture, hoping that China's policy authorities can speed up the approval process for new genetically modified soybean varieties.

On that day, a report by Yang Jun, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics, and Huang Jikun, director of the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, showed that the United States has approved 13 genetically modified soybean varieties for commercial cultivation, but among these 13 varieties, China has only approved 3 for import: Roundup Ready, Genuity Roundup Ready2 Yield, and LibertyLink. China's approval speed is far lower than that of the U.S. authorities.

China is the world's largest importer of genetically modified soybeans, importing 71.4 million tons last year. This year it is expected to import 74 million tons. China's main sources of imported soybeans are the United States, Brazil and Argentina. On April 21, Zhang Liwei, a researcher at the China National Grain and Oils Information Center, said in a personal speech that “since 1996, almost all of the increase in global soybean imports has come from China.”

The report by Yang Jun and Huang Jikun showed that it takes 2-3 years for a genetically modified soybean variety to pass market approval in China, and applications for importing genetically modified products can only be submitted to Chinese regulators after approval by the country where the genetically modified technology product was developed.

The International Soy Growers Alliance believes that if the approval process is too long and exceeds the necessary scope for ensuring safety on a scientific basis, it will prevent biotechnology from demonstrating its role in the market.

Hoping to Shorten the Approval Cycle

The International Soy Growers Alliance is composed of soybean growers and industry association representatives from the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and other countries, representing the interests of the soybean industries of major exporting countries such as the United States, Brazil and Argentina.

On that day, the alliance released a white paper titled “The Impact of Delays in Soy Biotechnology on Global Soy Production, Supply and Demand.” The alliance believes that genetically modified improved crops developed through biotechnology innovation must undergo regulatory approval before being used for field cultivation and entering the food supply chain. To ensure their environmental safety and food safety, appropriate market access delays are worthwhile.

But the alliance also pointed out that if the approval process is too long and exceeds the necessary scope for ensuring safety on a scientific basis, it will prevent biotechnology from demonstrating its role in the market. In the short term, it will greatly reduce the benefits to consumers and producers; in the long run, it will have a negative impact on the overall process of innovation. Taking genetically modified soybeans as an example, their production is mainly to provide soybean meal (2743, 27.00, 0.99%) protein for livestock breeding. If delays in biotechnology approval lead to insufficient production and supply, it will drive up the cost of livestock breeding, thereby making it impossible to meet people's demand for meat, eggs and milk.

A 21st Century Business Herald reporter learned through an interview that the alliance will also communicate with China's Ministry of Agriculture to convey the alliance's views and strive for China's agricultural authorities to speed up the process and shorten the approval cycle for import genetically modified regulations.

A member of a U.S. soybean-related association said in an interview with a 21st Century Business Herald reporter: For a long time, the excessively long approval process for new varieties has caused growers to face many difficulties. If biotechnology investors and developers cannot get returns on long-term investment, they will lose the motivation to continue investing and developing.

A representative of the Paraguayan Soybean Producers Association said, “We very much understand each country's decisions on adopting biotechnology, but it should also be noted that after 10-20 years of cultivation, there is already enough experience and scientific basis. We hope to share with Chinese farmers.”

According to genetically modified data published on the Ministry of Agriculture's official website, a 21st Century Business Herald reporter calculated that the Ministry of Agriculture currently allows imports of 41 approved genetically modified varieties including soybeans, corn (2506, 0.00, 0.00%), and rapeseed (0, -4695.00, -100.00%), among which there are 9 genetically modified soybean varieties.

LIoyd C. Day, deputy director-general of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, pointed out in his speech report that approval decisions are made individually by each country, are costly, about 35 million U.S. dollars, and obtaining approval takes about 100 months. He said: Slow or asynchronous approvals, combined with zero-tolerance policies for unapproved varieties, lead to disruptions in international trade and higher prices.

He specifically took MIR162 corn as an example: it was approved in the United States in 2010, but only obtained approval in China at the end of 2014.

Yang Jun pointed out that China has its own regulatory procedures for the management and approval of imported genetically modified products, and “applications for import permits for genetically modified products need to be submitted after the product has been approved by the country of origin.” The approval process takes 2-3 years.

The country of origin he refers to means the country where the genetically modified variety was developed, not the country that approved cultivation. Yang Jun said that the cost of approving imported genetically modified varieties includes management costs, testing costs for imported goods, and personnel costs.

Yang Jun also said that if faster approval is to be obtained, it is necessary to establish globally unified common standards, establish R&D management norms and communication mechanisms, and especially data sharing, in order to shorten the approval cycle.

The Attractiveness of the Chinese Market

As the world's largest importer of genetically modified soybeans, China's huge demand makes major soybean exporting countries hope to enter the Chinese market faster.

Zhang Liwei pointed out that in 2014 China imported 71.4 million tons of genetically modified soybeans, of which 32 million tons were imported from Brazil, 30 million tons from the United States, and 6 million tons from Argentina. Soybean imports from the three countries accounted for 95.24% of China's imports.

Zhang Liwei estimated that in 2015 China will import 74 million tons of soybeans. From 1996 to 2014, China's soybean imports increased by an average of 3.74 million tons per year, and almost all of the increase in global soybean imports came from China.

Information provided by the International Soy Growers Alliance shows that there are 7 newly approved genetically modified soybean varieties, including 5 herbicide-resistant varieties, and 2 others that are high-oil varieties and insect-resistant varieties. These are all owned by Dow AgroSciences, Monsanto, Bayer and DuPont Pioneer. Among them, DuPont Pioneer's Plenish genetically modified soybean obtained import approval from China, while the others have not yet obtained it.

Multinational companies are moving quickly in the research and development and commercial cultivation of genetically modified products. New products can quickly obtain approval and be commercially cultivated in the United States, South America and other places, but they have not obtained import approval in China, which also puts companies developing genetically modified varieties at risk.

MIR162 genetically modified corn is an obvious example. From October 2013 to June 2014, because import approval had not been obtained, domestic quality inspection authorities had returned 1.252 million tons of U.S. corn and other products containing MIR162 genetically modified components. At the end of December last year, Chinese regulators approved a safety certificate for MIR162 genetically modified corn, allowing imports.

Despite the huge demand for imported soybeans, regulators are relatively cautious about approving new varieties of imported genetically modified soybeans. At the end of December 2014, Bayer CropScience announced that China had officially approved the import of one of its genetically modified soybeans, LL55. It took 7 years for this variety to obtain a Chinese safety approval certificate.