USDA FAS Reports Biotech Updates in Pakistan and Korea

The USDA Foreign Agricultural Service released the 2021 Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report on the agricultural biotechnology updates in Pakistan and South Korea.

According to the report, cotton is still the only GM crop approved for cultivation and use in Pakistan since regulatory uncertainty continues to be a hurdle in seeking approval of other crops. In 2020, the country imported approximately 2.2 million tons of soybeans, with 50 percent coming from the US.

The report highlighted that South Korea is in the process of revising the existing Living Modified Organism (LMO) Act to cover innovative technologies, including products of genome editing. The draft revision released in May 2021 indicated a pre-review step that will determine if certain genome editing products would need full risk assessment or be exempted from the evaluation.

For more information, download individual reports are published on the USDA FAS website for Pakistan and South Korea.