Mexico is holding up import permits for GMO corn, the head of the country's main farm lobby told Reuters, saying the government intended to apply a GMO ban to the grain used in animal feed despite contradictory comments by a top U.S. official.
In an interview, National Farm Council President Juan Cortina said among hundreds of agricultural product import permits awaiting a resolution are at least eight for genetically modified corn even though the ban is not set to go into effect for three years.
If the prohibition on GMO corn is implemented, it would dramatically upend the multibillion-dollar grains trade between the United States and Mexico, forbidding some 16 million tonnes of annual U.S. yellow corn exports to its southern neighbor, nearly all of it GMO.
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