China agreed in March to accept imports of US-grown soybeans while it assesses the safety of the crop under new Chinese rules for genetically-engineered crops. Exports from the US were suspended in February because it was feared that they would not be unloaded in China by the time the new rules came into effect on March 20.
Two-thirds of US soybeans are geneticallyengineered to help the crop survive spraying of a powerful weed killer. China bought 5.2m tonnes of US soybeans in 2001, out of total US exports of 27m tonnes.