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New Zealand milk production is forecast to fall in 2022 as a result of continued dry conditions in key producing areas, high feed prices, a smaller dairy herd, and continued labor shortages.

FAS/Nairobi forecasts an increase in Uganda’s marketing year (MY) 2022/23 coffee production to a new record of 6.65 million bags due to favorable weather and recently established plantations coming into full production. Arabica production is anticipated to decrease by 5.2 percent to 900,000 bags due to cyclical yield variation.

South Africa is set for a record pome fruit and table grape production in marketing year 2021/22. Favorable weather conditions, new areas under production, and higher yielding cultivars is driving the growth in production.

Milk production in Australia in 2022 is forecast to decrease by over four percent to 8.6 million metric tons (MMT). Despite generally good production conditions for 2022, the slump in milk production is largely due farmers continuing to exit the dairy industry through farm sales and some dairy farms partially or fully transitioning to less labor-intensive beef cattle production.

In MY2021/22, Post projects that table grape production will increase by 15.2 percent, totaling 760,000 MT and exports will increase by 14.2 percent, totaling 600,000 metric tons. For MY2021/22, Post estimates apple production at 1,036,000 MT a 4.8 percent decrease from MY2020/21 on lower planted area.

On April 26, 2022, the Philippine Department of Health’s Food and Drug Administration notified the World Trade Organization of a “Draft Administrative Order Revised Rules and Regulations on the Licensing of Food Establishments and Registration of Processed Food, and Other Food Products, and for Other Purposes Repealing Administrative Order 2014-0029.” Trading partners and other stakeholders have until June 25, 2022 to submit comments.

On Thursday May 12, the Government of Brazil (GOB) cut import tariffs for several categories of goods, focusing on food staples in an attempt to reduce consumer inflation. Import tariffs on beef, chicken, corn, wheat flour, wheat, cookies and bakery products were eliminated through the end of the year.

In 2021, the total value of U.S. agricultural and food exports to Hong Kong dropped 12 percent compared to 2020, continuing its decline from the 2017 peak and reaching its lowest level since 2008. The overall drop in exports was driven primarily by lower sales of consumer-ready products which offset recoveries in other product categories.

A recent industry survey in one of China’s leading provinces for textile and apparel manufacturing highlights the negative impact of the PRC’s zero-tolerance COVID policy in the world’s largest cotton market and area economy. According to survey results, production estimates are down, costs are higher, and deliveries are delayed.

Egypt reversed the widely criticized mandate by the Central Bank of Egypt for importers to utilize a process where letters of credit would substitute the long-established cash-against-documents process.

On April 26, 2022, Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries designated mackerel, Pacific saury, sardine, squid and cuttlefish as vulnerable to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. From December 1, 2022, Japan will require catch certificates to import products containing these species as a main ingredient.

On April 11, the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development announced that the country is battling 56 outbreak cases of the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) involving farms and communal areas in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, North West and Gauteng. According to the DALRRD Animal Health Directorate, the outbreaks currently troubling South Africa were caused by illegal movements of animals out of the FMD controlled zones in Limpopo.