China to grant up to nine GM crop herbicide registrations

On April 26, 2024, ICAMA of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs announced intention of approval of the fourth batch of pesticide product registrations in 2024. AgroPages noted that the intended approval of extension of registration includes seven glyphosate potassium salt/glyphosate isopropylamine salt-based biological breeding crop herbicides, which are another batch of biological breeding registrations, as announced following the first batch of biological breeding crop herbicides on March 29. 

Up to now, China intends to approve up to nine target trait-oriented GM crop herbicides. The specific product information is detailed in the table below:

Since China’s approval of biological breeding of new GM varieties in 2008, the policies in support of GM crop industrialization have been released one after another. In 2021, the No. 1 central government document suggested ″an orderly promotion of industrial application of biological breeding″ which opened a new page of industrialization pilot, where the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs organized industrialization pilot for herbicide-tolerant GM soybean and corn. In 2023, the central government directly pressed the accelerator button, having proposed in its 2023 No. 1 central government document ″to accelerate the process of industrialization of biological breeding and to further expand the scope of pilot of industrial application of GM corn and soybean,″ which kicked off expedite process of industrialization of planting of GM soybean and corn crops. Since December 6, 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has twice reviewed and approved 81 GM corn and soybean varieties, most of which are glyphosate-tolerant products. The announcement of the intention to approve the GM varieties indicates the beginning of industrialization of biological breeding in China. 

On March 29, 2024, the intended approval of registration of the first batch of two glyphosate-tolerant GM crops was announced, being respectively filed by Zhejiang Wynca and Jiangsu Nantong Nanshen Plant Protection Technology Development Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of Jiangshan Agrochemical & Chemicals. This time, on April 26, the announcement of the intended approval of the new batch of seven GM target trait-oriented herbicides of Syngenta, Bayer, Wynca, Youjia Plant Protection, a subsidiary of Yangnong Chemical, Hubei Taisheng Chemical, a subsidiary of Xingfa Group, stands for China’s endorsement and gradual perfection of lawful GMO applications. 

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