BUENOS AIRES (March 18 2003) - Argentina's foreign minister plans to heada mission to China in April to talk about potential obstacles to tradingsoya with the Asian giant, its biggest soya buyer, a ministry officialsaid.

Argentina, the world's No 3 soya producer, has been selling soyabeans andsoyameal to China for years, but a series of complex rules Chinaintroduced in 2001 governing the certification of genetically modifiedgoods has sparked concern in Argentina, where 95 percent of soya isgenetically modified.

Under the new rules, GM goods must be proved harmless to the environmentand to human health to gain certification.

The rules were due to come into effect in March 2002, but Beijingpostponed that date to September 2003, allowing countries to continueexporting GM soya to its market.

"We have to follow this soya issue. It's important that it doesn't becomea barrier to trade," Felipe Frydman, national director of internationaleconomic negotiations at the Foreign Ministry, told Reuters in a recentinterview.

"(Foreign Minister Carlos) Ruckauf is expected to visit at the end ofApril," Frydman added. "We are just waiting for definitive confirmation."

Soya is Argentina's biggest crop and its main export and China is theworld's top importer of the oilseed.

Last week, Chinese officials told firms like US-based biotechnology giantMonsanto -- the world leader in GM soya production -- that it might decideto postpone the application of the new rules until April 2004.

'BIGGEST CONCERN': "This is one of our biggest concerns. If (the puttinginto effect of new rules) isn't postponed again, or the Chinese don'taccept our arguments about safety that we presented, like the UnitedStates did, we could have a serious problem," said Gustavo Idigoras, headof Food Markets at the Argentine agriculture department.

Soya represented 67 percent of the $1.03 billion worth of goods Argentinashipped to China in 2002.

Of that total some $505 million was unprocessed soya and $221 million wassoyameal.

The United States, also a major GM soya producer, sells a about $1 billionof soyabeans to China.

The rules on GM trade have also led to concerns in No 1 soya producer theUnited States and in No 2 producer Brazil.

The headache has been biggest in Buenos Aires and Washington, since thetwo countries are major users of the cheaper-to-produce GM soya and bothhave their eyes on the Chinese soya market, which they expect to growexponentially.

Argentina expects to produce a record soya crop of 34 million tonnes, ofwhich the US Department of Agriculture expects China to buy 16 milliontonnes.

"China is becoming a very important importer for Argentina. It is the mainbuyer of Argentine products in Asia and the presumption is that that trendwill continue," Frydman said.- Reuters