The Singapore Customs TradeNet will undergo extended system maintenance July 31 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Aug. 7 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time, it said July 15. Singapore Customs advises users to avoid submitting applications during this time. This is in addition to the usual 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. Sunday maintenance.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies released a July report on the China-Russia relationship, including where the two countries most benefit from mutual trade. The report outlines the composition of Chinese imports from Russia, China’s reliance by province on exports to Russia, and information on weapons imports from Russia.

HMM, South Korea's largest shipping firm, plans to invest $11.4 billion by 2026 in new ships and terminals to boost competitiveness and comply with greater environmental regulations, the firm said in an emailed statement, Bloomberg reported July 13. The new investment will see shipping capacity boosted to 1.2 million 20-foot equivalent unit containers from its current level of 820,000 TEU and raise the number of bulk carrier vessels to 55 from 29. Last year, HMM noted its largest-ever annual operating profit of more than $5.5 billion, with port congestion boosting shipping rates, Bloomberg said.

China recently extended its Section 301 retaliatory tariff exclusion period for sorbitol and other non-U.S. agricultural goods, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in a July 8 report. The exclusion period was scheduled to expire June 30 but now will remain in effect until Feb. 15, 2023. USDA said this is the fourth time China has extended the exclusion period for sorbitol, adding that the U.S. has historically ranked as the second-largest supplier of sorbitol to China, behind Germany.

China's General Administration of Customs announced phytosanitary requirements for imports of fresh citrus from Zimbabwe, according to an unofficial translation of a July 1 notice. The notice also includes quarantine requirements for those imports.

The Philippines recently announced a new requirement for imports of certain feed ingredients, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in a July report. The country will require importers to submit a “utilization report” to certify that the feed ingredients won’t be “diverted for human consumption or for other purposes,” the report said. USDA said it has received concerns about the “burdensome nature of this new requirement,” which hasn’t been posted on the country's Bureau of Animal Industry website and hasn’t been notified to the World Trade Organization. USDA also said it’s unclear whether the new rule -- which will apply to corn, sorghum, wheat, soya beans, palm whey powder, whole milk powder and other imported ingredients -- will require importers to submit the new report on a per shipment basis, or a monthly or quarterly basis.

Hong Kong’s Trade and Industry Department is asking industry to report by July 22 activities involving certain chemicals controlled by the Chemical Weapons Convention, the agency said July 8. Hong Kong requires operators of certain facilities that work with the chemicals to submit annual reports, which are then submitted to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the international implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention. The annual reports must contain details about past and “anticipated activities” involving controlled chemicals. Violators of the reporting requirements, including facilities operating without the required permits, may face fines and imprisonment.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control in June sanctioned a network of Iranian petrochemical producers along with Chinese and Emirati front companies that broker sales of Iranian petrochemicals to China and East Asia. In response, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry expressed China's opposition to "illegal and unjustifiable unilateral sanctions" from the U.S. "We urge the US side to abandon the wrong practice of resorting to sanctions at every turn and contribute positively to negotiations on resuming compliance with the JCPOA," the spokesperson said July 7 during a regular press conference in China, according to an English translation of the transcript provided. "The international community, including China, has conducted normal cooperation with Iran within the framework of international law. This is reasonable and lawful without harm done to any third party, and deserves to be respected and protected."

China will officially begin security reviews for certain data exports Sept. 1, Reuters reported July 7, allowing China to regulate how its companies can send the information overseas. The reviews could capture past transactions conducted by a range of firms, including any entities that have sent personal information overseas belonging to 100,000 or more users, or “sensitive" personal information of 10,000 or more users, since Jan. 1, 2021, the report said.

India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade extended until June 30, 2023, its free trade policy for imported potatoes from Bhutan. The policy covers potatoes, fresh or chilled - Other, under Harmonized System code 0701 90 00 and permits the potatoes to be imported without a license.