Singapore imposed an $8 per liter duty on imports of samsu, Singapore Customs announced June 27. To comply with the April 2020 Declaration on Trade in Essential Goods for Combating the COVID-19 Pandemic, duties were discontinued on medicated and other varieties of samsu. Effective July 1, Singapore Customs is reinstating duties on medicated samsu of an alcoholic strength by volume not exceeding 40%, medicated samsu of an alcoholic strength by volume exceeding 40%, other samsu of an alcoholic strength by volume not exceeding 40%, and other samsu of an alcoholic strength by volume exceeding 40%.

Singapore acceded to the World Customs Organization's International Convention on the Simplification and Harmonisation of Customs Procedures (Revised Kyoto Convention), Singapore Customs announced. The nation said the convention sets standards on customs procedures, enforcing standards on areas such as "import and export formalities, duties and taxes collection, customs warehouses schemes, regulation of free trade zones, as well as temporary importations and exportations of goods." Ho Chee Pong, director-general of Singapore Customs, said "Singapore’s accession affirms our commitment to reinforce our position as a reputable major trading hub, and to maintain procedures and standards that facilitate international trade."

Alexander Abramov, co-founder of Russian steel company Evraz, filed a case at the Federal Court of Australia challenging his placement on Australia's Russia sanctions list, The Guardian reported this month. Abramov lives in Switzerland, has made an estimated $6 billion from the Russian steel industry and was sanctioned by Australia in April. Counsel for Abramov told The Guardian that the billionaire "doesn’t satisfy the definition of a person who should be on the sanctions list" since he does not have the "requisite influence" on the Russian regime to qualify as a sanctioned individual. Abramov does not have business in Australia, but he does reportedly own property in New Zealand.

Vietnam seized four tons of dried tamarind suspected of being smuggled through a district bordering with Cambodia, the state-run CustomsNews reported June 24. An anti-smuggling team working with local police discovered the goods while inspecting a fruit barn in the Tinh Bien district. The team found 400 boxes of dried tamarind from a foreign country, CustomsNews said. The barn's owner did not have the boxes' invoices and documents proving their origin, though he said he bought them in the Xuan Hoa hamlet. The anti-smuggling team verified this was not the case, and turned the case over to the Tinh Bien District Police for additional investigation.

The Singapore State Court sentenced Ho Shyan Tien, a Singaporean national, to eight months in prison and levied a $4.4 million (in Singapore dollars) fine for evading the Goods and Services Tax on imports of various goods between 2015 and 2019, Singapore Customs announced June 24. Ho, the only director of freight forwarding company Sea-Net Cargo Express, pleaded guilty to six charges of evading GST on the imports.

China's President Xi Jinping criticized global sanctions in a June 22 speech at the opening ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said, according to an unofficial translation of a press release. Appearing virtually, Xi said sanctions are a "boomerang" and a "double-edged sword" that politicize and weaponize the global economy to impose "arbitrary" restrictions that ultimately harm others. BRICS member states are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Manfred Low Cheng Jing, a Singaporean national, was sentenced to 15 weeks in prison by the Singapore State Courts for obstructing investigations into alleged violations of the U.N. sanctions regime on North Korea, the Singaporean 24-hour news channel CNA reported. Low worked as a director of oil trading and bunkering company Yuk Tung Energy in 2018 while it was being investigated by the Singapore Police Force over a ship-to-ship transfer of "gasoil" from the MT Yuk Tung ship to the North Korean-flagged ship Rye Song Gang 1. A commercial arrangement was made to have Yuk Tung Energy charter the MT Yuk Tung. Through his position, Low tallied invoices over the company's business dealings and reviewed contracts, explaining them to the company's "key decision-maker," Benito Aloria Yap.

The Hong Kong Trade and Industry Department June 20 released updated applications for its international import certificate and its delivery verification certificate. Both certificates cover trade in certain “strategic commodities.”

Bangladesh recently increased duties on 135 imported products, including a range of consumer goods and industrial products, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported June 20. The country raised duties from 5% to 20% on various cosmetic items, including sunscreens, perfumes and shaving products, the report said. A 20% duty also applies to household items, including certain furniture and kitchen appliances, some of which were previously subject to duties of 3%-5%. Duties on fresh and dried fruit also increased from 3% to 20%, the report said. Bangladesh also increased duties on vehicle engines, oxygen, nitrogen, argon and “primary medical care items,” which are now subject to a 15% duty, and tires and construction raw materials, which increased from a 3% duty to a 10% duty.

U.S. agricultural exporters can benefit from “significant opportunities” in Bangladesh, particularly surrounding nuts, condiments, fruit juice, non-alcoholic beverages, snacks and baking ingredients, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report June 15. The agency said Bangladesh’s rising population and percentage of middle- and high-income households is creating a “growing potential market” for U.S. agricultural products. Although U.S. exports to Bangladesh have historically been “dominated” by soybeans, cotton and other bulk products, USDA said changing dynamics in the Bangladeshi market have created more opportunities for consumer-oriented goods.