Canadian canola exporters should have no trouble meeting China’s new standards for imports of genetically modified products, say industry officials.
But that won’t necessarily guarantee access to the world’s largest importer of oilseeds, said Dale Adolphe, president of the Canola Council of Canada.
No matter what the rules, China’s grain and oilseed import policies will continue to be driven more by internal politics than by market demand or science-based food safety issues, he said.
“If China wants to buy, they will buy and they will find a way to make sure there is no problem. If they don’t want to buy, or want to create a technical trade barrier, they’ll say, ‘no, we have to do this review.’ “
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Agricultural traders around the world were taken by surprise earlier this month when China announced it was imposing new guidelines for import of GM products, retroactive to May 23.
The announcement prompted speculation that the rules are designed mainly to give China a way to control imports after it enters the World Trade Organization and dismantles some of its traditional tariff barriers.
“There is a lot of suspicion of that,” said Adolphe.
The new rules say any GMOs must be cleared by a Chinese government agency called the Agricultural Authority for the State Council before entering the country.
Certificate requirements
An import certificate will be granted under three conditions:
- The use of the products must be approved and commercialized in the originating country.
- It must be scientifically established in the originating country that the product poses no threat to humans, animals, plants or the environment.
- Adequate safety measures must be in place for risk management and prevention.
Adolphe said Canadian canola should encounter no problem meeting all of those conditions, as long they are applied in a scientific, objective manner.
“Right now we’re in the mode of trying to figure out what the hell China wants,” he said.
The canola council has asked Monsanto and Aventis, the two companies that produce GM trait canolas grown in Canada, to move promptly to get the necessary approvals from the Chinese agency.
Monsanto spokesperson Trish Jordan said the company will place a high priority on doing just that, working through its own regulatory people in China and in co-operation with the canola industry and the Canadian government.
She said given the company’s experience in dealing with GMO issues in countries such as Canada, the United States and Japan, and the data that are available, she doesn’t expect any problem meeting the Chinese requirements.
Comfortable with rules
Steve Meister of Aventis said the company’s preliminary assessment is that China’s rules seem similar to science-based rules in other countries and it shouldn’t require significant amounts of new work.
“One would presume that the studies that we’ve done for registration in Canada and the U.S. … would be similar to what would be required in China,” he said. “Whether there will be additional ones required for local conditions is what we still need to assess.”
Adolphe said he has no complaint about China setting out rules designed to protect its consumers, noting that all the major industrialized countries have similar review processes.
“It’s prudent to have guidelines,” he said. “But what kind of stinks about this whole thing is that it was effective May 23. There was no warning.”
China has become a major customer of Canadian canola in the last few years, buying about 1.2 million tonnes in 1998-99 and 1999-00 and will join Japan as the top importer in 2000-01, at about 1.8 million tonnes.
China is also the world’s biggest producer of rapeseed, so it’s not inconceivable that canola imports could be affected by domestic policy considerations. For example, the Chinese government could decide that the domestic crop should be fully processed before any imports are allowed, and use the new GM rules to block purchases from abroad, Adolphe said.
