Beef consumption in Thailand is outpacing local cattle production, potentially providing more opportunities for U.S. beef exporters, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in an Aug. 4 report. Although the majority of Thailand’s imported beef comes from Australia and New Zealand, a rise in Thai “specialized beef restaurants” and other “new concept restaurants is a great opportunity for U.S. beef importers since they are looking for premium beef quality,” USDA said. The agency also said Thai consumers “still regard U.S. beef as high quality for its outstanding tenderness and flavor,” and Thai home cooks often make decisions on beef quality based on country of origin.
India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade is creating an online procedure for the filing and transfer of export obligations from an original company to a new one in the case of an amalgamation, “de-merger,” acquisition or insolvency, the DGFT said in an Aug. 4 notice. The original company is required to follow a procedure to transfer any advance authorizations and Export Promotion Capital Goods authorizations to the new one. The notice lays out the steps a company must take for filing.
India recently lowered import duties on lentils, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in a July 30 report. The country eliminated its 10% basic duty on lentils for all origins except the U.S., and reduced basic import duties on U.S. lentils from 30% to 10%. India also lowered its Agriculture Infrastructure Development Cess on imported foreign lentils from 20% to 10%. USDA said the “total effective import duty” on U.S. lentils was lowered from 55% to 22%.
Strait Shipbrokers and its managing director, Murtuza Mustafa Munir Basrai, filed a complaint July 19 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging its Specially Designated Nationals listing (see 2101050012). The Trump administration made the designation after concluding the company helped with the transport of petroleum from Iran. Straight Shipbroker countered, claiming it's not required to check the origin of its cargo in its role as a broker and that the designation was made in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and its Fifth Amendment rights to due process (Strait Shipbrokers Pte. Ltd. et al. v. Blinken et al., D.C. Cir. #21-01946).
Dali Bagrou and his company World Mining and Oil Supply pleaded guilty on Aug. 2 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia to violating the Export Control Reform Act, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Georgia said in a press release. The scheme started when a Russian state-owned enterprise began working with Oleg Vladislavovich Nikitin, general director of Russia-based energy company KS Engineering, to buy a power turbine from a U.S.-based manufacturer for around $17.3 million, the release said.
The Philippines recently issued a memorandum reiterating the minimum labeling requirements for imported meat and clarified that imports that don’t comply will be seized and possibly disposed, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in a July 29 report. USDA said U.S. exporters are “strongly advised” to work with local importers to ensure expiration dates are included on labels. Other minimum labeling requirements include the country of origin, ingredient list, date of manufacture, and handling and storage instructions.
The shift from NAFTA to USMCA has been taxing for vehicle manufacturing sector companies, panelists on a KPMG seminar said about the trade deal, one year in. But for Georgia-Pacific, compliance is simpler after the rewrite. Myesha Cottom, director of international trade at Georgia-Pacific, said that getting rid of the template for NAFTA goods and going to minimum data elements means less administrative burden. "I’m optimistic that the administrative burden will continue to decrease," she said during the July 28 webinar.
World Trade Organization members reached a consensus July 28 on the 14 new heads of the subsidiary bodies that report to the Council for Trade in Goods. The General Council chair, Ambassador Dacio Castillo of Honduras, added that he will host consultations on how to "improve the overall process for the appointment of officers of all WTO bodies," according to an accompanying press release. The chairpersons are as follows:
Although there were some specific complaints about how USMCA has gone in its first year -- especially what witnesses and senators said was an anemic effort to get Mexico to change its stance on genetically modified agricultural crops -- much of the hearing in the Senate Finance Committee on July 27 explored how USMCA should be seen as a model for future trade agreements.
CBP’s Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee’s full Export Modernization White Paper includes a range of appendices that provide greater insight into how CBP and the COAC envision export modernization. The 127-page paper, originally issued as an abbreviated 24-page version in June, defines the roles and responsibilities of parties in the export process, dives further into export modernization recommendations and includes a range of areas in the Foreign Trade Regulations that will likely be revised. The other appendices include an analysis of Electronic Export Information data elements, information on post-departure filing and other documents produced by the COAC’s working groups.