Johannesburg - South Africa issued permits to allow total
imports of 1.3 million metric tons of genetically modified corn from the US
since allowing entry of the grain for the first time in December after the
worst drought since records began in 1904.
There have been 15 permits issued for GM corn, or maize
as it’s known locally, according to Makenosi Maroo, a spokeswoman for the South
African Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said Wednesday in an
e-mailed response to questions. She didn’t say whether the permits were for
white or yellow corn.
South Africa became a net importer of corn for the first
time since 2008 in the marketing season that ended in April, after the drought
slashed local harvests. Approval was given for the entry both white and yellow GM
corn from the US, the Pretoria-based South African Cereals and Oilseeds Trade
Association said in December. While South Africa grows its own GM corn to date
it hadn’t allowed modified grain from the US to be imported as food.
Read also: SA will continue maize imports
Local corn farmers oppose the new imports because they
are likely to push prices lower, Grain SA, the biggest local industry organisation,
said at the time.
So far none of the corn has landed in South African
Ports, Hampie Lourens, managing director of South African Bulk Terminals, which
handles grain imports at the port of Durban, said in an e-mailed response to
questions.
South Africa has imported 641,235 tons of the country’s
staple, white corn, in the season that began May 1, mostly from Mexico,
according to data from the South African Grain Information Service. Yellow corn
imports in the period have totalled 1.2 million tons, much of it from
Argentina. In South Africa yellow corn is mainly fed to animals.
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