China will return a cargo of soyabeans imported from Brazil because it was treated with a harmful pesticide, a government official and traders said on Friday.
"We will definitely ask the local authorities to return the cargo," said an official from the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, known as CIQ.
The official said the cargo arrived on April 18 and was found to be "harmful to health".
Traders said the cargo, on a ship berthed at the southern port of Xiamen, was treated in Brazil with a pesticide to prevent Asian soya rust. A local crusher bought it. China, the world's top soyabean buyer, bought 6.5 million tonnes of soyabeans in 2003 from Brazil, the world's second-biggest soya exporter, accounting for more than 30 percent of its total imports.
Crushers said they were worried about quality problems with further Brazilian exports. "We have to wait a while and see how it develops as it involves a huge amount of money," said a manager from a major crusher in Hebei.
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