Attempts by the Russian government to bolster the domestic yeast
industry by raising taxes on imports have been dented by a lack of
trust in local supplies.
The EU provides the largest amount of trade-distorting support to
farmersas measured by dollar value, with the US a distant second
and Japan adistant third, according to a report this month bythe US
government's Congressional...
Vietnamese rice exports could soon increase as higher than expected
yields allow the government to lift its export restriction,
according to an Asia Pulse report.
The WTO has declined to endorse the EU's tariff level of 230
EUR/tonne for banana imports, forcing the Commission to initiate a
new consultation process, writes Anthony Fletcher.
The area sown to wheat and barley over the last season in the UK
has decreased, said the HGCA last week, yet there is no apparent
cause for concern as good yields may still produce a strong crop,
reports Lorraine Heller.
Prices for soybeans, used to make edible oils and meat
alternatives, are still vulnerable with fresh figures showing China
will increase its pull on global stocks.
A new framework to set favourable tariff quotas for certain
agricultural products from certain countries has been endorsed by
Russia's parliament yet rejected by the upper house, reports
Chris Mercer.
Russia has banned imports of Moldovan meat amid suspicions that it
is selling on sub-standard products from third countries, sparking
a row between national authorities, reports Angela
Drujinina.
A team of EU inspectors has arrived in Vietnam to investigate the
country's seafood sanitary conditions, after excessively high
levels of antibiotics were discovered in a batch of seafood
exports, Tom Armitage reports.
New opportunities have emerged for British wheat growers after an
industry association used a new classification system to
successfully negotiate the export of UK wheat to Egypt, the world's
second largest buyer, reports Chris...
South Africa has slapped an import tariff on Irish cheese, alleging
that dumping has priced domestic cheese producers out of the market
and also led to a 15 per cent fall in milk prices, Tom Armitage
reports.
The number of imported chocolate products into Switzerland has
increased for the fourth year running - but will the EU's looming
CAP reforms soon bring this burgeoning trend to an end, asks Tom
Armitage.
Honey producers in China began exporting to the EU for the first
time in nearly three years last week after the authorities in
Brussels lifted a ban imposed amid safety concerns.
European and Swiss manufacturers of processed agricultural products
can from today sell their products to each other with less expense
and hassle than before, writes Philippa Nuttall.
Brazil, a leading exporter of soybeans and key competitor with the
US, is worried that rising production costs for soybeans could eat
into local farm profits next season, while global stocks rise,
according to fresh figures from the...
Breakthrough talks at the weekend on world trade will have received
a reticent welcome from a European food industry likely to see the
phasing out of payouts to export food products.
Cheaper sugar ingredients could be on the way for food makers in
Europe as draft plans for tough changes to the much criticised
sugar regime come to light.
Following its accession to the European Union Poland has reported a
significant surge in both the exports of dairy products and beef
since it joined the European Union at the beginning of May.
Findings from a new report from the Geneva-based World Trade
Organisation suggest today's highly processed food industry will
continue its thirst for ingredients, writes Lindsey Partos.
In the past two decades international trade...
Romanian sugar producers say they are facing possible collapse
because of suffocating sugar quotas which have been in place for
the last five years, in the run up to accession.
Switzerland's sweet and savoury biscuit sector saw a return to
growth in 2003 due entirely to a strong upswing in export sales -
but domestic sales fell for the second year in succession as a
result of cheaper imports from the...
Food processors in the developing world are having to work hard to
meet new EU food safety regulations that are due to come into force
in January 2005. These laws will make it mandatory for all fruit
and vegetable products arriving...
Strict hygiene standards are increasingly being used by the west to
block food imports from developing economies, according to
researchers in Thailand, India and Australia. They claim that rich
countries are using consumer fears of...
Franz Fischler, EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development
and Fisheries, is to pay an official visit to China from 25 to 30
March 2004 to help consolidate what is becoming a vitally important
export market. Since 1978, EU-China...
Food ingredients companies head off to China with agriculture chief
Fischler next week on a mission to boost trade relations and create
new business opportunities for the food industry.
Approximately one-third of global meat exports, or 6 million metric
tonnes, are presently being affected by animal disease outbreaks,
the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said today. With the
value of global meat and live...
Exporters of genetically modified (GM) food suffered a setback this
week when an international conference on biotech safety agreed to
impose stricter labelling requirements on such products. The US,
which is the largest exporter of...
The European Commission has announced a number of initiatives to
help developing countries enhance their export performance and
reduce their vulnerability from price fluctuations of major
international agricultural commodities such...
Tesco, the UK's leading food retail group, is one of a number of
leading companies in the food industry criticised this week for
"driving down employment conditions for millions of women
workers around the world" by...
A publicity drive launched last week by the UK government will be a
vital part of the fight to stamp out illegal imports of meat and
plant material, said the UK's farm industry body.
Accession will create changes in food and drink trade further a
field than just the European Union. In Russia a number of issues
relating to accession are set to make an impact on both production
levels and quality, but the outlook...
With the failure of WTO talks in Cancun last year, pressure has
intensified on Europe's heavily subsidied sugar regime - trading at
three times the world price- to change. While critics want to see a
fairer regime with Europe...
The Russian government recently lifted import duties on soybeans,
corn and fishmeal for nine months starting 25 January, reports the
American Soybean Association, opening the way for soy movements in
the East.
Opening Slovenian borders to allow increased imports of food
products made in the rest of the EU - and the ending of export
agreements with some non-EU countries - is likely to lead to more
pressure on domestic manufacturers, according...
German wholesale and retail giant Metro has ended 2003 with sales
growth at its expanding international business offsetting the
continued depression in its home market.
Spain's food companies are broadly happy with the support they
receive for marketing their products on export markets, but most
would still like to see more financial backing and a greater degree
of co-ordination from the various...
Flying the flag for market liberalisation Europe's food and drink
industry body has reinforced its support for a revival of WTO
negotiations. But the group also lays down conditions.
The EU food and drink industry proved highly resilient in 2002,
increasing overall volume sales by 1.8 per cent at a time when the
bloc's industrial output as a whole declined.
The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued yet another food
hazard warning over food products contaminated with the potential
carcinogen Sudan I. But in India, the country's spices board
reveals it is tackling the problem.
Reform of the current preferential EU sugar regime is imminent,
with think-tanks, politicians and industry participants among
others assessing this complex and heated topic. But who stands to
lose the most through reform, asks MTT...
"We have fundamentally reformed our farm policy," and with
these words Dr. Franz Fischler, European Commissioner for
Agriculture kicked-off his first speech at the WTO ministerial
conference in Cancun, Mexico that opened...
"We want to make the Doha Development Agenda a success." For
Agriculture European Commissioner Franz Fischler this is Europe's
number one objective for the upcoming WTO trade talks in Mexico
next week. And to achieve...
In the run up to the WTO trade talks next week in Mexico, the
European Union has called on the WTO to rule on the 'legality of
the Australian quarantine regime' applied to imports of a large
number of food products of EU...
As the countdown to the September rendez-vous for WTO global trade
negotiations in Cancun in Mexico begins, European agriculture
commissioner Franz Fischler shares his views on globalisation and
the market economy, and in particular,...
With just three weeks remaining until the Cancun meetings, the EU
and the US yesterday presented a joint framework to relaunch
agricultural negotiations. Focusing on three areas, domestic
support, market access and export competition,...
A poor performance in the domestic market was offset by good volume
growth in export markets for the Swiss food industry last year. But
with cheap imports taking market share at home, and the strength of
the franc impacting value...
Agilent Technologies has launched a new method for testing
Nitrofuran Metabolites in food animal products, said to be the
fastest and most effective of its kind.
British tourists and expats on the Spanish island of Tenerife will
soon be able to find that increasingly British dish - curry - on
supermarket shelves there. Bombay Bangers is to begin exporting its
range of Indian convenience foods...
