Nikkei/Dow Jones | January 7, 2000
TOKYO - The Nihon Keizai Shimbun was cited as reporting in its Friday evening edition that leading Japanese trading houses plan to increase imports of non-genetically modified grains to meet rising demand from food processors.
From April 2001, some food products will be required to indicate the use of GM ingredients on their labels.
With European food processors expanding imports of non-GM grains from the U.S. and Latin America, some grain market analysts predict severe competition over securing stable sources of supply.
Mitsubishi Corp. will, the story says, ask contract growers of non-GM soybeans, mainly in Iowa, Ohio, Michigan and other Midwestern states, to double the amount of land under cultivation from the year-earlier level to some 200,000 acres. Annual imports of non-GM soybeans this year will also be doubled to 200,000 tons.
Marubeni Corp. will increase the number of soybean growers it deals with through major U.S. grain dealer Archer Daniels Midland to 300 from the current 200. The trader has also signed agreements with about 500 other farmers for non-GM soybean production.
Nissho-Iwai Co. will increase imports of non-GM soybeans from China, which bans production of GM grains, to 50,000 tons in a couple of years from the 30,000 tons last year. Nichimen Corp. will follow suit through negotiations with China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Import and Export Corp.
Japan imports 5 million tons, or 80% of the soybeans used in food processing, from the U.S. A Nissho-Iwai official was cited as saying that with the implementation of the GM-labeling law next year, about one-fifth of such imports will be switched to non-GM varieties this year. This may increase further if food processors not affected by the new regulation begin to order non-GM soybeans.
