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To promote a greater dialogue with the People's Republic of China (PRC) on issues related to climate, the FAS offices in China launched “Agriculture for a Better Future,” a series of social media posts on U.S. Mission to China social media platforms.

The European Union (EU) follows a complex, rolling system of review for active ingredients and Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs) in food. For agricultural inputs, U.S. farmers must know early in the process of review to prevent or mitigate the loss of, and/or access to, chemical inputs.

On September 2, 2022, the National People’s Congress (NPC) published an updated Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Though domestically focused, some articles of the law hold the potential to impact trade, including sections on cold chain logistics and traceability.

One of the goals of the EU’s Farm to Fork (F2F) Strategy is to enhance the EU’s animal welfare legislation. The enforcement of existing legislation on animal welfare during transport has proven difficult in past years.

As the economic environment in Angola has improved, Angolan chicken meat imports also recovered, increasing 57 percent in 2021. Post expects 2022 imports will show slight year-over-year growth as well. In 2021, Angola was the world’s seventh largest importer of U.S. chicken meat by value ($125 million).

Brazil’s Marketing Year (MY) 2022/23 sugarcane crop is estimated at 621 million metric tons (MMT), an increase of eight percent compared to the final estimate for MY 2021/22 (576 MMT), supported by better weather conditions vis-à-vis the previous year. Sugar prices remain attractive and sugar-ethanol plants have focused on sugar production as opposed to ethanol. Brazilian exports for MY 2022/23 are estimated at 28.2 MMT, raw value, an increase of 2.25 MMT relative to the previous season.

China’s inshell walnut production is forecast to increase by 27 percent in marketing year (MY) 2022/23, largely because of a production rebound in western China. Despite uncertainties over an economic slowdown and ongoing COVID restrictions, China’s almond imports are expected to pick up in MY 2022/23, given increased supplies and competitive prices.

For Marketing Year October 2022/September 2023 (MY 2022/23), Post forecasts overall sugar production in the Dominican Republic (DR) to increase to 630,000 metric tons (MT) due to favorable weather conditions. During MY 2021/22, total sugar production reached 625,391 MT, a 2 percent increase from MY 2020/21 due to favorable rainfall patterns that improved agricultural yields.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, travel and dining restrictions decimated tourism to the city and negatively impacted the hospitality sector. Hong Kong’s restaurant receipts dropped from $14.4 billion in 2019 to $11.9 billion in 2021.

In 2020, sales of the HRI food service sector reached 140 trillion KRW (122.2 billion USD), a decrease of 3.1 percent from 2019. The pandemic affected the sector harshly and most of its sub-sectors experienced decreases in sales.

FAS Manila adjusted marketing year (MY) 2023 raw sugar production down to 1.85 million metric tons (MT). The weather disturbances and low fertilizer application due to soaring fertilizer prices drastically affected sugarcane production in the Philippines.

South Africa’s food service sector generated revenues valued at US$3.5 billion in 2021, an upsurge of almost 30 percent from 2020. The South Africa hotel, restaurant, and institutional industry was severely affected by the strict restrictions imposed by the South African government to control the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020.