Syngenta officially announced this week that Chinese regulatory officials have approved for the Agrisure Viptera® trait (event MIR162) formally granting import approval. The approval covers corn grain and processing byproducts, such as dried distillers grains (DDGs).

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) is pleased with the action. “We see this as an encouraging step in what needs to be an ongoing process,” said NCGA Trade Policy and Biotechnology Action Team Chair John Linder. “For years, NCGA has advocated for synchronizing international approval processes and thus opening markets for farmers. We hope that progress toward this goal continues.”

This approval, which concludes a lengthy process, hopefully represents a positive step towards a more timely, predictable regulatory framework that protects U.S.-China agricultural trade. At the same time, a variety of other traits remain in the regulatory system without clear indication of the time frame necessary to gain approval. Given this situation, NCGA hopes further progress towards a synchronized, predictable approval system continues.