China imposed inspection and quarantine requirements for imports of dairy products from Mongolia, the General Administration of Customs said March 6, according to an unofficial translation. Requirements include that no cases of foot-and-mouth disease are found in the farm at least a month before any raw milk is collected and no clinical symptoms of anthrax are found in the farm when collecting any raw milk. The farm also must be under the supervision of the Mongolian Sate Administration of Technical Supervision, the notice said.

A recently enacted law in the Philippines could expand tariff and tax incentives for a variety of agricultural inputs, USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service said in a March 6 report. The law could specifically provide some exemptions for import duties on raw materials to support local agricultural production, the agency said. USDA said the country is finalizing the agricultural subsectors that could benefit from the law.

China continued to suspend import and export activities at two border gates shared with Vietnam to comport with COVID-19 preventive measures, the Vietnamese state-run CustomsNews e-magazine reported after speaking to a representative of China's Cao Bang Customs Department. In February, China only permitted import-export activities at the Ta Lung border gate of all the border gates in the Cao Bang region. This policy will continue while trading activities at Vietnam's Soc Giang and Tra Linh border gates will continue to be shuttered. Reopening will continue to be delayed due to isolation measures in the Chinese city of Baise to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the report said. A reopening date is unclear.

To clear up congestion at Vietnam's northern border gates, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh instructed the Ministries of Health and Finance to build "green zones" -- or COVID-19-free zones -- in border gate areas, the state-run CustomsNews reported March 4. The zones will be built in coordination with local agencies to be consistent with Chinese customs regulations on COVID-19 prevention and control so goods can be exported and imported swiftly, the report said.

Vietnam Customs seized 14 bags of smuggled Thai sugar, the state-run CustomsNews reported. The bags were shipped from Cambodia to the Dong Thap province for inland transport. Following a joint operation by multiple customs branches in Vietnam, the 14 bags were seized at the Thong Binh Border Gate. As a result, the Dong Thap customs branch told its enforcement agents to strengthen inspection efforts at the border gates, trails, border crossings, border-gate economic zones and waterways to detect smuggling of sugar and cigarettes, CustomsNews said.

Pakistan recently extended temporary antidumping duties on certain imported flat steel products from the EU, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam for five years, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported March 2. The country will continue imposing AD of 6.18% on covered steel products from Taiwan; 6.50%, from the EU; 13.24%, from South Korea; and 17.25%, from Vietnam, with certain exemptions. Exempted from the duties are steel items used as inputs in products for export. The tariffs cover a range of products used to produce auto parts and goods such as doors, cabinets, pipes, tubes, refrigerators, washing machines, geysers and ovens, HKTDC said.

China's Ministry of Commerce (MofCom) and the Chongqing city government signed a ministry-city cooperation agreement that will speed up the construction of the pilot Free Trade Zone in Congqing, MofCom said, according to an unofficial translation. The agreement, signed Feb. 27 in Chongqing, will also shorten the construction timeline of inland open highways and boost the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity, which was signed to increase cooperation on financial services, aviation, transport and logistics, and information technology. Under the new agreement, regular meetings will be held and working groups created to analyze the issues facing the partnership's aims, MofCom said.

Singapore Customs arrested two Chinese nationals and seized over 1,600 cartons of cigarettes in a Feb. 23 operation, the customs administration said. Customs officers noticed the two men transferring goods hidden in black trash bags from a truck to a van. Suspecting the two men were "dealing with duty-unpaid cigarettes," the officers moved in to find 1,636 cartons and 80 packets of cigarettes for which duties had not been paid. Singapore Customs said the duty and goods and services tax evaded were approximately $140,390 and $11,170, respectively (in Singapore dollars). "Court proceedings against both men are ongoing," Singapore Customs said.

A spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs again backed away from imposing sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. "China does not agree with resolving issues with sanctions, still less unilateral sanctions that lack the basis of international law," the spokesperson said, according to a transcript in English of a regular press conference. "Reality has long proven that sanctions not only fail to resolve problems, but will create new ones. It will result in a situation where multiple players lose, and will disrupt the process of political settlement." The spokesperson did echo a sentiment previously expressed by President Xi Jinping that a "Cold War mentality" is to be avoided and that European peace should be brought "through dialogue and negotiation." China has walked the line of refusing to impose any restrictions on Russia following the invasion while saying that "all countries' sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected and upheld."

While nearly all the rest of the developed world was placing sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, China issued notice it would be lifting restrictions on Russian exports of wheat to China. China's General Administration of Customs announced the move Feb. 23, according to an unofficial translation. The customs administration also laid out a series of monitoring and quarantine requirements for any wheat shipments. The two countries initially agreed to the trade following Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Beijing in early February, but it was announced only hours after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the South China Morning Post reported Feb. 24. Russia is the world's largest exporter of wheat and the move could help alleviate its economic concerns following a large wave of sanctions from many of the globe's largest economies. "China will continue to carry out normal trade cooperation with Russia and Ukraine in the spirit of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Feb. 24, according to a transcript in English of a regular press conference.