The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is planning to recognize Costa Rica as being free of classical swine fever (CSF). APHIS conducted a risk evaluation that will be available for public review and seeks public comments on this proposed decision through Sept. 6, it said in a notice.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service appears set to allow imports of fresh cape gooseberry fruit from Peru, if the fruit passes one or more designated phytosanitary measures. It seeks public comment on a pest risk analysis it designed to screen for the pests that might require quarantine or allow entry of Physalis peruviana, the Peruvian fruit.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will phase out its Plants for Planting and Treatment manuals, and will relocate information on import requirements found in the manuals to its Agricultural Commodity Import Requirements database, APHIS said July 29. The manuals will still be available to APHIS and CBP staff on an “internal website” until April 1, and will be updated “as needed.” After that date, “the manuals will be available for reference only,” APHIS said. Training and outreach materials to help new ACIR users are available on the APHIS website.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is setting FY 2025 country allocations for imports under tariff-rate quotas for cane sugar and refined sugars. The FY 2025 import TRQ for raw cane sugar was established at 1,117,195 metric tons raw value (MTRV), the minimum amount to which the U.S. is committed under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Uruguay Round Agreements (see 2406130053). The USTR now allocates this TRQ among supplying countries and customs areas, as follows: Argentina 46,260; Australia 89,293; Barbados 7,531; Belize 11,834; Bolivia 8,606; Brazil 155,993; Colombia 25,819; Congo (Brazzaville) 7,258; Costa Rica 16,137; Cote d'Ivoire 7,258; Dominican Republic 189,343; Ecuador 11,834; El Salvador 27,971; Eswatini (Swaziland) 17,213; Fiji 9,682; Gabon 7,258; Guatemala 51,639; Guyana 12,910; Haiti 7,258; Honduras 10,758; India 8,606; Jamaica 11,834; Madagascar 7,258; Malawi 10,758; Mauritius 12,910; Mexico 7,258; Mozambique 13,986; Panama 31,199; Papua New Guinea 7,258; Paraguay 7,258; Peru 44,108; Philippines 145,235; South Africa 24,744; St. Kitts & Nevis 7,258; Taiwan 12,910; Thailand 15,061; Trinidad-Tobago 7,531; Uruguay 7,258; Zimbabwe 12,910.

USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is revising requirements on the importation of fresh table grapes from Chile, it said in a notice. The table grapes are grown in the regions of Chile where the European grapevine moth (Lobesia botrana, EGVM) is either absent or at a very low prevalence. "We have determined that, in addition to the existing option of methyl bromide fumigation for EGVM and Chilean false red mite (Brevipalpus chilensis), grapes from Chile may be safely imported under a systems approach or irradiation for EGVM and B. chilensis," APHIS said. "Current mitigation measures for Ceratitis capitata, or Medfly, will remain unchanged." The regulation revisions are effective July 19.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service intends to allow imports of leaves and stems of fresh sage from Ethiopia into the continental U.S., it said in a notice. An agency pest risk analysis found that “the application of one or more designated phytosanitary measures will be sufficient to mitigate the risks of introducing or disseminating plant pests or noxious weeds via the importation of leaves and stems of fresh sage from Ethiopia,” APHIS said. If APHIS finalizes the decision, it will allow imports into the U.S., subject to the phytosanitary requirements specified by the agency. Comments will be accepted through Sept. 16.

USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service has terminated Federal Marketing Order No. 929, which regulates the handling of cranberries grown in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and New York's Long Island, according to a notice of the final rule published July 12 in the Federal Register. The change becomes effective July 31.

As USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service creates a $50 million pilot program aimed at bolstering food assistance programming and the supply of non-traditional, shelf-stable commodities, it's seeking public comments on some of the factors that would go into creating the pilot program, including known challenges and barriers around imports, the current production capacity in the U.S. and seasonality and availability of certain commodities for export, and the estimated cost of delivery of commodities to a U.S. port.

USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation announced July 12 that Special Import Quota #13 for upland cotton will be established July 18, allowing importation of 9,174,450 kilograms (42,137 bales) of upland cotton, the same as the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than Oct. 15, 2024, and entered into the U.S. by Jan. 13, 2025. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the March through May 2024 period, the most recent three months for which data is available.

The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service is proposing multiple clarifying amendments to the Paper and Paper-Based Packaging Promotion, Research and Information Order, a program that collects fees from importers to promote paper-based packaging. Among the proposed amendments is revising the definition of importer, which would be changed to "further clarify that importers are persons who import paper and paper-based packaging from outside the United States, that is subsequently released from custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (Customs) and introduced into the stream of commerce into the United States," AMS said.