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Turkiye’s cherry production for marketing year (MY) 2024/25 is forecast down from last year’s record, but is still the third largest on the books. Despite the contraction in production, cherry exports are forecast to hit an all-time high as growers prioritize sales abroad since it’s more profitable then selling on the local market.

On July 19, 2024, the South African government published a new sugar import tariff of R1,093 per metric ton (US$60.09/MT). This tariff change was triggered by a downward trend in global sugar prices and will apply to sugar imported into the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU).

This year’s apple harvest is expected to be 197,000 MT, slightly lower than last year’s numbers and the lowest in a decade. Pear production is set to drop by around nine percent, with a total of 327,000 MT. The decrease in pear harvest is mostly due to tough growing conditions throughout the season, leading to fewer fruits per tree. When it comes to the land being harvested, apple acreage is shrinking further, down to about 5,220 hectares.

China notified the National Food Safety Standard: Cooked Meat Products (draft for comments) to the WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures as G/SPS/N/CHN/1313 on July 11, 2024.

On August 21, 2024, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) announced that it had initiated an anti-subsidy (i.e., countervailing duty or CVD) investigation on imports of certain dairy products originating from the European Union.

On July 11, 2024, China notified draft Measures for Supervision and Administration of Quarantine for Entry and Exit Medicinal Materials to the World Trade Organization (WTO) under G/SPS/N/CHN/1314.

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), representing 9,000 unionized workers at Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd (CPKC), officially walked off the job at midnight Eastern time on Thursday, August 22, reportedly marking the first time that simultaneous stoppages have occurred for Canada’s two major rail lines.

FAS/Sofia has revised downward its estimate for Bulgaria’s MY 2024/25 corn crop to 2.2 million metric tons (MMT), which if realized would be the smallest crop in over a decade. This is due to severe summer heat and drought in July and in early August.

After a 2023 outbreak, and the authorization of three types of vaccines, a new Bluetongue disease outbreak occurred again in the Netherlands in the summer of 2024. The disease is also spreading to neighboring countries Belgium and Germany.

Rice export prices increased 2-4 percent due to the strengthening of the Thai baht and strong export demands for Thai rice.

Weekly summary of U.S. export sales activity for key commodities.

On August 13, the Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety (CFS) confirmed to ATO Hong Kong that effective February 14, 2025, the Special Autonomous Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) will transition from a “systems-based” approach to recognizing foreign meat and poultry establishments to an “establishment or plant-based” registration system.