Myanmar’s corn exports rose “significantly” over the past year despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the military coup, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in a recent report. Myanmar exporters have been unable to meet the high corn demand from neighboring Thailand, USDA said, and are also benefiting from a newly finalized sanitary and phytosanitary agreement with China. But USDA expects “fewer exportable supplies” for the remainder of the 2020-2021 fiscal year “due to the record exports during the first eight months.” The country-wide instability caused by the military coup initially crippled Myanmar’s logistics industry (see 2103090005), but trade has managed to continue (see 2107120011).

The Meishan terminal at the Ningbo-Zhoushan port, the world's third-largest port, reopened Aug. 25 after a two-week shut down, Bloomberg reported. The one terminal constituted around a quarter of the port's capacity and was shut down Aug. 11 after a worker was infected with COVID-19. COVID-related shipping delays have worsened in 2021, making it more expensive to meet record-high demand for Chinese exports, Bloomberg said. For instance, it now costs around a record $11,000 for a container to ship goods from Shanghai to Los Angeles, the report said.

Hong Viet Production Trading Service Joint Stock Co. and Montrose Consulting Co., both based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, saw their import and exporting rights suspended by the HCM City Customs Department following the late payment of taxes, state-run publication CustomsNews said Aug. 25. The local tax department is requesting around $170,000 from Hong Viet Production and $11,000 from Montrose Consulting, leading to the suspension of customs clearance procedures for the companies. “Many companies paid taxes after the local department enforced sanctions,” CustomsNews said.

Pakistan recently extended its sales tax exemption on imported goods used to treat COVID-19, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Aug. 23. The exemption, which was scheduled to lapse July 9 and will now continue through year-end, covers a range of medical devices and supplies, including X‑ray equipment, vital sign monitors and surgical masks.

Japan recently expanded the types of plums that can be imported from the U.S., the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in an Aug. 22 report. Under the change, announced Aug. 19, imports of U.S.-origin Japanese plums, also known as Prunus salicina, are now allowed, the report said. The imported plums must meet certain conditions, including a mandatory methyl bromide fumigation. They also must include a phytosanitary certificate issued by the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

India recently lifted its antidumping duty on imports of viscose staple fiber from China and Indonesia, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Aug. 24. India lifted the duties on the textile inputs amid strong lobbying from industry, which said the duties inflated the costs of the “essential input.” India’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies recommended lifting the duty despite determining a “likelihood that dumping might recur in the future,” the report said.

China's General Administration of Customs barred the import of pigs, wild boars and their products from Dominica following an outbreak of African swine fever on the Caribbean island nation, the customs agency said, according to an unofficial translation. If these products are found on a transport vehicle such as a ship, aircraft or automobile, the vehicle will be sealed and not allowed into China without customs clearance, the release said.

China's General Administration of Customs laid out the plant quarantine requirements for imported barley flour for feed in an Aug. 20 announcement, according to an unofficial translation. The quarantine requirements apply to the fine powdered feed material (whole barley flour, containing bran) obtained by processing barley in Kazakhstan. Such products must clear Chinese phytosanitary requirements, which include the proper wet heat treatment in the barley production facilities. This treatment must be less than five minutes, above 85 degrees Celsius and greater than 80% humidity. The barley flour for feed shall not contain weed seeds, live insects, other grain impurities, plant residues, soil and other quarantine pests, other quarantine objects, impurities, etc., the announcement said.

Singapore Customs arrested three men Aug. 18, seizing more than 4,700 cartons of cigarettes for which duties had not been paid, the customs agency said Aug. 23. Customs initially observed boxes suspected of having the duty-unpaid cigarettes, then inspected a Chinese national's two vehicles, finding 1,700 cartons of the illegally shipped cigarettes and arrested the driver. Singapore Customs officers also found 2,996 cartons and 40 packets of duty-unpaid cigarettes in a van driven by a Singaporean national with a Malaysian man in the passenger seat. The officers then inspected the Singaporean man's home, where an additional 64 cartons and 37 packets of cigarettes were seized, Singapore Customs said. Duties and taxes evaded totaled approximately $400,000 and $32,000 (in Singapore dollars), respectively, it said.

Japan recently published the first public draft of its sixth strategic energy plan, which could have implications for U.S. exporters as the country looks to severely cut its greenhouse gas emissions, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in an Aug. 11 report. The plan calls for a reduction in reliance on petroleum and coal and lists plans to ban new sales of hybrid cars with combustion engines by 2035, USDA said. The country is aiming for cars with an “electric propulsion system” to make up about 20% to 30% of new commercial vehicle sales weighing less than 8 tons. Japan’s Agency of Natural Resources and Energy aims to double the use of renewable energy for electricity generation by 2030, compared to 2019. "ANRE proposes to significantly revise the 2030 energy mix target relative to its prior 2030 target published in 2018," the report said. The plan focuses on solar and wind, rather than biomass, and doesn't set targets for transport biofuels.