BUENOS AIRES, May 12 (Reuters) – Argentina, one of the largest wheat exporters, on Thursday became the first country in the world to authorize the planting of GMO wheat when it approved the national commercialization of the HB4 GMO wheat variety developed by Bioceres.

The company said, however, that the HB4 seed – which is more drought-tolerant and resistant to the herbicide glufosinate-ammonium – would not be available on the market just yet.

“We are going to continue producing under the preserved identity scheme that we currently have. We are not going to commercialize the seeds for the time being,” a source at the company told Reuters, without providing further details.

Argentina, where farmers are about to start sowing wheat for the 2022/23 season, was the first country to approve GMO wheat in 2020 on an experimental basis, followed in 2021 by Brazil, which is the largest buyer of Argentine wheat and gave a green light to GMO wheat flour.