UNITED STATES—Get ready for grain prices to react to the latest commodities news: Japan has recently cancelled its order (Thursday, May 30, 2013) of wheat from the U.S. because of prospective contamination from GMO.
Japan imports nearly all of its wheat, and with the U.S. producing about 10 percent of the world’s wheat supplies and 25 percent of the world’s wheat in the export market, this cancellation by Japanese importers would be, not necessarily a significant blow in and of itself, but the first in a series of dominoes to fall on the export market because a huge chunk of importers (Asian and European countries) will wisely not accept genetically modified foods into their countries.
It’s being said in widely-published reports that NONE of the U.S. wheat crop contains modified grain (it’s not been approved for modification, unlike corn and soybeans, probably because the primary use of corn and soy is for animal feed, but wheat goes right into the American food chain…which should give everyone cause for pause). However, the “strain” of genetically modified wheat found on a farm in the state of Oregon has even stateside producers worried about “how this could have happened” (as if they are completely clueless…since genetic modification is what Monsanto, who owns practically all the seeds in this country, is all about).
As if things couldn’t get worse, South Korea and China, being top Asian wheat importers, are aware of the situation and are monitoring it closely.
Published statistics show 45.7 million acres of wheat are planted in the U.S. If any portion of that wheat is contaminated with GMOs, the U.S. could potentially see a decline in sales, which means an increase in other areas such as fuel and grocery prices. There’s not a lot that can be done about stopping GMO wheat from spreading, as some farmers have found out; all it would take would be for one bird to pick up one wheat head and drop it in a regular field, and there you have the entire wheat crop potentially “contaminated.”
The U.S. consumes over 70 percent of wheat grown.