Singapore Customs is “decommissioning” its Singapore Customs Academy website now that customs courses will be provided by two of the country’s technology schools (see 1911290011), the agency said in a Dec. 23 press release. The website will be decommissioned Dec. 30, and the academy's existing suite of courses will transfer to the schools for participants to register for instruction on those schools' websites.

Indonesia aims to export between 100,000 and 500,000 metric tons of “premium” rice in 2020, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service report released Dec. 23. Indonesia had been a net importer of rice in recent years, USDA said, due to local supplies struggling to meet demand. USDA said it “remains unclear” how the country will meet the proposed export volumes and how it will compete with less expensive rice from Thailand and Vietnam. The country’s media outlets reported the “main destination” for the exports may be Saudi Arabia, as Indonesians prepare for pilgrimages to Mecca in 2020, the report said.

The effects of African swine fever on feed demand in the Philippines may not be “as severe as initially forecast,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report released Dec. 19. Estimates predict a decline of 100,000 metric tons in feed wheat consumption, down from a decline of 300,000 metric tons forecast earlier, USDA said, potentially reducing the need for feed imports. USDA also said the Philippines is facing low rice production due to a recent typhoon, which will likely lead to an increase in 200,000 metric tons of rice imports.

Singapore Customs issued a Dec. 19 circular about its upgraded free trade agreement with China (see 1910210033) and the deal’s rules of origin provisions, which will take effect Jan. 1, 2020. The circular outlines “key changes” to the rules for Singapore’s exports to China, including an expansion to the list of “Product Specific Rules,” updated criteria for determining the origin of products, information on submissions of manufacturing cost statements to qualify certain products for the Product Specific Rules and more.

Singapore Customs’ TradeNet will undergo system maintenance from 4 a.m. to 12 p.m. local time on Dec. 29, Singapore said in a Dec. 17 notice. The agency is advising users to avoid submitting applications during this time. This is in addition to usual maintenance on Sundays from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m.

Japan and Uzbekistan signed a “customs mutual support agreement” to prevent smuggling and more efficiently carry out customs procedures, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a Dec. 19 press release, according to an unofficial translation. The agreement aims to reduce smuggling of illegal drugs and improve “trade facilitation measures” by simplifying customs procedures, it said. The agreement calls for more information sharing, which will ensure “proper application” of customs laws and customs investigations.

China released another round of tariff exemptions for certain U.S. imports, according to an unofficial translation of a Dec. 19 notice from China’s State Council Customs Tariff Commission. The waivers will be granted from Dec. 26, 2019, through Dec. 25, 2020, and will include six chemical and oil products, including certain lubricating oils; “adhesive” items; wax; polyethylene; a linear low-density polyethylene; and polypropylene, China said. Tariffs already levied on these imports will not be refunded, according to a Dec. 19 report from Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency. China previously announced tariff exemptions for 16 U.S. goods (see 1909110051), later adding pork and soybeans (see 1909130013). Xinhua said the commission is continuing to “work on the exemption process” and will release “the exemption lists of U.S. goods subject to the second round of additional tariffs in due course.”

China's Foreign Ministry criticized the Commerce Department’s efforts to restrict sales of emerging technologies (see 1912160032), saying the U.S. is “abusing export control measures” and “impeding” cooperation between the two countries. A ministry spokesperson said the U.S. is “over-generalizing” the concept of national security as justification for the export controls, which are aimed at preventing countries, including China, from acquiring access to sensitive U.S. technologies. “Don't think you can ever deter China's growth as well as scientific and technological innovation by limiting exports of high-end technologies to us,” the spokesman said during a Dec. 18 press conference. “You are being too arrogant.”

China plans to issue tariff exemptions to importers of U.S. agricultural goods on a “more regular basis” after the phase one U.S.-China trade deal was reached, according to a Dec. 17 report from Bloomberg News. China announced earlier this month it would be issuing tariff waivers for soybeans and pork (see 1912060033), which are now expected to be “handed out more frequently,” the report said. The move will “make it less punitive” for Chinese importers to buy from U.S. agricultural exports to help fulfill China’s obligations under the phase one deal, Bloomberg said.

Thailand and Hong Kong will soon begin a “pre-negotiation feasibility” study on a potential free trade agreement and hope to begin talks in 2021, according to a Dec. 16 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The feasibility study is expected to begin in February, the report said. Both countries also recently signed a series of memorandums of understanding aimed at increasing trade, better connecting industries and collaborating on innovation and technology. The two sides also discussed a “higher number” of Hong Kong companies potentially moving production sites to Thailand to avoid tariffs from the U.S.-China trade war.