Amazon Prohibits Overseas Shipping of Seeds

Suspicious Seeds from China
All Seed Sale Ads from East Asian Companies Including China Removed

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy International Desk Reporter] Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce company, has banned foreign sellers from selling plant seeds to the United States.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 5th (local time) that Amazon recently notified foreign plant sellers to stop selling seed-related products to U.S. consumers.

Amazon also removed all advertisements for seed sales by East Asian companies, including those from China, targeting U.S. consumers.

Amazon decided not to allow foreign companies, even if shipping within the U.S., to sell seeds unless they are U.S.-based companies.

WSJ explained that Amazon's restriction on seed-related product sales is due to the recent incident involving mysterious seeds originating from China.

In July, several countries including the United States, Canada, and Japan experienced significant confusion as unidentified seeds from China were delivered. In the U.S., multiple reports were received from states such as Washington, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, and Nevada about unsolicited seed packages.

There were concerns that this might be a "biochemical terror" originating from China, but the seeds were confirmed to be common plant seeds such as mustard, cabbage, and mint. In response, the Chinese government stated that the packages marked with "China Post" were counterfeit.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.