Reuters: Science News: Japan team wraps up meeting with USDA on GM wheat situation

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Japan team wraps up meeting with USDA on GM wheat situation Jul 17th 2013, 18:42 WASHINGTON | Wed Jul 17, 2013 2:42pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Japanese delegation is completing talks with the U.S. Department of Agriculture aimed at restarting purchases of U.S. western white wheat, which were halted after the discovery of an unapproved genetically modified strain growing in Oregon. "USDA is hosting a team from Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for technical discussions in support of the resumption of trade of U.S. western wheat," a USDA spokesman told Reuters. Official talks are due to end on Wednesday, but the Japanese team will be in the United States until Saturday, USDA said, adding that it does not plan to provide further details. U.S. merchants said a pickup in Asian demand helped the western white wheat market to gain this week, with prices higher at the Chicago Board of Trade. South Korea lifted its ban on U.S. imports this month, and Indonesia was a buyer. Japan, one of the world's largest and most consistent importers of wheat, has shunned the western white variety since USDA announced the GM discovery in late May. Western white is the wheat variety used in Japan for cakes, cookies and other baked goods. The Japanese delegation was expected to lay out in detail what they want to happen in the United States in order for imports of western white wheat to restart. Reuters reported on July 8 that Japan hopes to restart the white wheat purchases as soon as August. Japan continues to buy other varieties of U.S. wheat at its regular tenders. After a weeks-long investigation, USDA termed the Oregon wheat discovery "a single isolated incident." (Reporting by Ros Krasny; Editing by Kenneth Barry) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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