China's rising rejections of imported food were noted by this blog in 2025. This year rejections have risen again, reflecting mainly the rising appetite for seafood and meat. Detection of GMOs from unexpected sources is another interesting theme. In August 2026, Chinese customs rejected 753 imported food shipments with a volume of 10,795 metric tons. The number of shipments was the largest rejected since the customs administration took over border inspections in 2018 and the volume was the second largest after May's 15,594 metric tons. Compiled from China Customs Administration web site. While rejections fluctuate from month to month, they have been clearly on a rising trend since 2023. A year ago, in August 2025, inspectors rejected 617 shipments with a volume of 8122 metric tons. China has rejected food shipments from more than 80 countries in the first 8 months of 2026. As discussed here last month, rejections of shrimp from Ecuador stand out as this year's top rejec...
Corn market bulls in the U.S. were disappointed that China made no commitment to buy American corn at the September summit meeting in Washington. Corn was the chief contributor to China's Phase One purchases in 2020-22, and many thought China would buy corn to fulfill its $17-billion purchase commitment this year. However, no agricultural commitment emerged from the meeting , just a pair of $30-billion spreadsheets and a promise to keep talking. China's corn market is actually in a fragile state. Demand is weak, feed mills are buying cautiously, and Chinese corn prices are sinking as the new crop comes on the market. Modest volumes of imported sorghum and barley are already adding downward pressure on corn prices. The threat of plunging prices for the country's largest grain crop could deter China's negotiators from agreeing to purchases of American corn. A September 29 article in the obscure State-run Grain & Oil News discussed weakness in the corn market as the ...