SA approves 1.3m tonnes of GM US maize imports

Johannesburg - South Africa issued permits to allow total imports of 1.3m metric tonnes of genetically modified maize 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 maize, according to Makenosi Maroo, a spokesperson for the South African Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said on Wednesday in an e-mailed response to questions.

She didn’t say whether the permits were for white or yellow maize.

South Africa became a net importer of maize 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 maize from the US, the Pretoria-based South African Cereals and Oilseeds Trade Association said in December. While South Africa grows its own GM maize to date it hadn’t allowed modified grain from the US to be imported as food.

Local maize farmers oppose the new imports because they are likely to push prices lower, Grain SA, the biggest local industry organization, said at the time.

So far none of the maize 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 tonnes of the country’s staple, white maize, in the season that began May 1, mostly from Mexico, according to data from the South African Grain Information Service.

Yellow maize imports in the period have totalled 1.2m tonnes, much of it from Argentina.

In South Africa yellow maize is mainly fed to animals.