Japan will add new import labeling requirements for alerting buyers if their goods contain walnuts, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in a June 10 report. The country will add walnuts to its list of allergens that manufacturers and importers “must include” on labels for packaged products that contain walnuts, the agency said. Japan currently only “strongly recommends” that importers include a walnut warning on labels but doesn’t require the message. The country plans to hold a public comment period for the change but hasn’t yet announced the time frame, USDA said.
Japan imposed another wave of sanctions on Russia, laying out an export ban of certain goods used to support industrial infrastructure, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced June 10, according to an unofficial translation. The export ban covers wood and wood products, steel storage tanks, hand or processing tools and machines, electrical equipment, trains, bulldozers and trucks. The restrictions will enter into force June 17.
There is “high growth potential” for U.S. agricultural exporters shipping to the Philippines, particularly with “consumer-oriented products,” the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report June 8. The agency said the Philippines was the eighth-largest market for U.S. agricultural exports in 2021, and consumer-oriented products -- such as dairy, pork and poultry products -- represented the largest category of exports. USDA specifically said U.S. meat and poultry exports to the Philippines have “increased significantly” in recent years due to “shortfalls” in domestic production caused by African swine fever. The agency expects those exports to continue to rise, as well as U.S. shipments of dairy, pet foods, potatoes and food preparations.
The Hong Kong Trade and Industry Department June 10 issued the latest version of signatures of agency officers authorized to sign and issue Delivery Verification Certificates and import and export licenses covering strategic commodities.
India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade extended the deadline to file annual returns under the Export Promotion Capital Goods Scheme, until Sept. 30, 2022. The filing extension will apply to returns for the 2022-23 period. Late fees of 5000 rupees will be assessed on returns due to be filed from the year 2022-23 onward, the DGFT said.
China's exports for the month of May jumped 16.9% in dollar terms from a year earlier, June 9 data from the General Administration of Customs revealed. The hike in commodity exports comes amid the easing of Shanghai's lockdown, which permitted factories, workers and ships to fill stalled orders. Exports in April rose 3.9%. May imports were up 4.1% after sitting unchanged in April. Economists and manufacturers said that this boom may not last as consumers around the world shift their spending to services such as travel and tourism, Bloomberg reported.
The directors-general of customs for all 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states launched a joint plan to fully implement the ASEAN Authorized Economic Operator Mutual Recognition Agreement by 2025, Singapore Customs announced. The joint plan is based on the Strategic Plan of Customs Development on AEO and was announced during the opening ceremony of the directors-generals' June 7 meeting in Singapore. Lawrence Wong, Singapore's minister for finance, told the gathering that the action plan "would enable successfully validated businesses to have reduced documentary and cargo inspections across all ASEAN countries, on top of other benefits." Wong also highlighted two other areas of customs collaboration -- greater work with ASEAN's major trading partners and common e-commerce standards.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is soliciting comments from stakeholders on what they would like USTR's negotiating objectives to be on issues related to conformity assessment, technical regulations and standards, customs and trade facilitation, and practices Taiwan has "that undermine fair market opportunities for U.S. workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses."
China banned the direct or indirect import of poultry and related products from Gabon after the country reported cases of an H5N1 subtype of avian influenza on a poultry farm, China's General Administration of Customs announced June 1, according to an unofficial translation. To prevent cases of the avian flu from infecting Chinese poultry farms, the country banned poultry from Gabon and said that poultry shipped from Gabon will be returned or destroyed.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. Koji Tomita signed an agreement that will change the beef safeguard trigger under the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement, USTR announced June 2, but the date the changes will come into force is still not known. "[B]oth countries will follow their respective domestic procedures in order for the updated agreement to enter into force," a USDA Foreign Agricultural Service release said.