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The Food and Agricultural Import Regulations and Standards (FAIRS) report provides an overview of the food laws and regulatory environment in Algeria as it relates to food and agricultural exports.

FAS and the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) in China worked together to educate, train, and promote Chinese breweries on how to use U.S. craft beer ingredients including hops and barely malts. Although U.S. hops and barley malts are priced higher than competitors, brewers have increasingly sought out U.S. ingredients for their high quality and stable supply.

On January 21, 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) published 2022 Decree No. 2 which amends some articles of four seed related regulations with immediate effect. These regulations include rules for registration of GE seed as well as crop variety registration and seed protection.

On December 23, 2021, the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China (GACC) published a notice that the inspection and quarantine requirements for imported dairy products, which include health certificates, import quarantine permits, and testing reports will now be subject to the details specified in GACC Announcement No. 114. Additional information for U.S. firms exporting dairy and infant formula products may be found within the executive summary.

This report confirms the dropping of dioxin free certificate requirements for U.S. exports of dairy and dairy products to the Sultanate of Oman. For years, Oman required importers to provide a dioxin free certificate from the country of origin for dairy and dairy products, delaying entry and often requiring testing at destination.

Recent French decrees set specific targets for reducing single-use plastic package waste by 2025, including a mandate for reusing packaging, starting 1 January 2022. The decrees are based on the Circular Economy and Fight Against Waste Law which ultimately seeks to ban all plastic packaging by 2040.

The Bulgarian organic market continued to grow in 2021 with an estimated annual growth of 2.5 percent to $39 million. The main driver behind the growth was the stronger consumer focus on a healthier lifestyle and increased popularity for organic products perceived as healthful, which led to higher retail sales.

U.S. food and agricultural product companies exporting goods to China are encouraged to verify their Chinese Import Food Enterprise Registration information inside the Chinese "Single Window" website. In addition, this report provides information on how to search for facility registration numbers issued by GACC.

Korea has issued its annual list of adjustment tariffs and voluntary tariff rate quotas (TRQs) for certain agricultural products for calendar year 2022. Korea’s 2022 tariff adjustments were relatively unchanged from the previous year; however, expanded TRQ’s in a handful of agricultural commodities will increase opportunities for U.S. agricultural exports, particularly in feed grains and food ingredients.

Following the UK’s departure from the European Union (EU), Great Britain (GB) is now outside of the EU single market and customs union, while Northern Ireland (NI) remains within the EU single market and customs union.

China’s Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional (HRI) sector recorded $ 573 billion in sales revenue in 2020, a 15.4 percent decline from 2019. COVID-19 led to many restaurant closures during the first half of 2020, but the industry rebounded in the second half and even exceeded the pre-pandemic scale by the end of 2020.

The United Arab Emirates' food processing sector is expanding due to significant public and private sector investments, low regional tariffs, and a convenient geographic location bolstered by excellent infrastructure.