BEIJING, July 27 (Reuters) - China has questioned the quality of genetically modified corn delivered from the United States
this month, the China National Grains and Oils Information Center (CNGOIC) said on Tuesday.
China's COFCO Co. Ltd. ordered its first shipment of genetically modified U.S. corn in May. It has sought corn imports
after a gap of four years amid fears that the country's harvest would be reduced as a result of drought and unseasonably cold
temperatures in major growing regions of the northeast.
The first cargo landed at Shenzhen in the southeastern province of Guangdong on July 21, but inspectors have found that
more than 10 percent of the corn has suffered damage, analysts at ABN Amro said in a note to clients on Monday.
CNGOIC analysts said the problems had arisen because China was now imposing stricter quality standards on corn.
A representative with a U.S. importer based in Shanghai denied that the shipments were being turned away, or that there
was any serious problem with the quality of the corn.
"The corn is currently being inspected and there are no results as yet. This is just rumour, with certain people seeking
to stir things up," he said.
"No shipments have been refused, and if there are quality issues then the situation can be resolved. With U.S. corn you
need to look carefully -- there is good and bad corn and you have to look at each shipment."
Feng Lichen, chief analyst with industry website www.yumi.com.cn, said excessive water content meant the imported
corn had been contaminated with mould.
Feng said the figure was probably not as high as 10 percent, but it was still enough to justify turning the cargoes away.
"If 3-4 percent of a cargo is mouldy, then the whole cargo can't be used. That's in the contracts," he said.
"The quality of these shipments is not as good as we expected. They might be suitable as duck feed but they are not
good enough for pigs."
(Reporting by David Stanway, Editing by Manash Goswami)

LMAO....like they didnt know we had a few quality issues in the US.