Opportunities For Non-genetically Modified Soy ...
COMTEX Newswire
Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) (Panafrican News Agency, June 20, 2000) - A huge
window of opportunity exists both in South Africa and Europe for non- GM soy
ingredients and products, a worldwide marketer in protein products said.
Hannes Terblanche, who is International Marketing Manager of Specialised Protein
Products (SPP), made the remarks Monday when he addressed some 200 delegates
currently attending the International Soy conference in Pretoria.
He pointed out that South Africa was one of the few countries where only non- GM
soybeans are available because the government does not allow importation of
genetically manipulated soybeans into the country or their cultivation in South
Africa.
He said South Africa's stand on genetically modified soy was to be lauded, for
although public attitudes towards genetic modification might be overheated, it
created excellent market opportunities for local soy growers and processors.
In keeping with that view, the raw soybeans utilised in SPP processing adhered
to worldwide non-GM standards - substantiated by on-going tests conducted in
Switzerland and Holland.
Growers contracting to SPP were required to plant only non-GM soybeans. The
consequence of these controls is that non-GM soy ingredient and products
commanded a premium abroad over GM-soy of about ten percent.
Terblanche warned that European governments had become wary of all soyfood
producers since European imports of some soy from India masquerading as being
non-GM and organically grown were unmasked by a Swiss court.
It had contributed to a number of food processors both in South Africa and
abroad eliminating soy from their formulations.
This was the tough market in which local soy producers had to operate -
compounded in South Africa by yet another factor.
The modern soyfood industry in South Africa had inherited negative public
perceptions of soy from the past. It would be foolhardy, therefore, to throw
away the major market advantage presented by non-GM soy, which South Africa
possessed.
"Our opposition to genetic modification of soybeans is based on marketing sense.
This did not imply that SPP is against development, inventions or new
technology."
Terblanche qualified SPP's stand on genetic modification of soy with the rider
that current sources of protein and nutrition were not adequate to supply the
world's expanding population, expected to reach 10 billion by 2070.
SPP supported the quest for new sources of protein and higher yields, but not at
the risk of destroying its market opportunities.
Copyright 1900 Panafrican News Agency. Distributed via Africa News Online.
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Copyright 2000