Origin expects to grow China’s first GMO corn in 2013

Monday, 13 February 2012 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

BEIJING (Reuters): Origin Agritech Ltd. said it expects the Chinese government to approve its genetically modified organism (GMO) corn for production in 2013, China’s first GMO strain in commercial production, its Chairman Han Gengchen said on Friday.

China gave the phytase corn biosafety approval in November 2009 and at the time scientists had expected large-scale production could happen as early as 2012, but a complicated approval process for use as seed has delayed the expectation.

“We have bred the gene on local hybrid seeds which are popularly used and generate high yields.

The safety approval process (for seed use) would be faster and likely be this year and we will start production next year,” Han told Reuters.

Once approved, the U.S-listed firm expects the acreage for its phytase corn to account for 10 per cent of the country’s total corn acreage within 10 years, said Han.

The Beijing-based company is working on the biosafety approval for the other two strains of GMO corn, the glyphosate tolerance and insect-resistent, and did not give any schedule as when these two can be approved by the government.

Phytase corn can help pigs digest more phosphorous, enhancing growth and reducing pollution from animal waste. China is the world’s largest pig breeder and also the top consumer of pork.

China, the world’s second-largest corn consumer, planted about 33 million hectares of corn last year, but rising consumption from animal feed production in response to more meat demand as well as industrial use has exceeded the growth of its production.

China is the world’s largest importer of GMO soybean, with annual imports accounting for about 60 per cent of global traded soybean.