According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) China has diverted one cargo of U.S. corn to Vietnam last week and cancelled the purchase of four additional cargoes this week. So far China has cancelled 220,000 tons of U.S. corn for shipment in the current marketing year as a dispute between the two countries over an unapproved strain of GMO corn continues. Since November China has rejected over 600,000 tons of U.S. corn because of the presence of a strain of GMO corn, MIR162 that China has yet to approve for import. More cancellations are expected as exporters do not anticipate this issue to be resolved quickly, and according to the USDA, as of January 30, 1.8 million tons of corn sold to China for 2013/14 remain unshipped. However, low prices have caused other countries to increase their U.S. corm purchases resulting in net exports sales of U.S. corn exceeding expectations both of the past two weeks.
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