The Department of Agriculture announced the establishment of the tariff rate quotas for raw cane sugar and refined and specialty sugars (including syrups and molasses) for fiscal year 2022 (Oct. 1, 2021 - Sept. 30, 2022).
The Agricultural Marketing Service announced a moratorium on marketing order assessments on imported and domestic walnuts that will begin Sept. 1 in response to disruptions to the industry caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The moratorium will also apply to inspection requirements on imported walnuts, as well as walnuts grown in California.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced new entry requirements for Canadian strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and roses to prevent the introduction of the strawberry blossom weevil, a berry pest. Effective Sept. 14, entries of Fragaria spp., Rosa spp., and Rubus spp. plants produced in Canada must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration stating the plants have been produced and certified as having been produced in a pest-free production site for strawberry blossom weevil, and have been inspected and found free of the pest, APHIS said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation announced Sept. 2 that Special Import Quota #20 for upland cotton will be established Sept. 9, allowing importation of 12,031,960 kilograms (55,262 bales) of upland cotton, the same as the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than Dec. 7, 2021, and entered into the U.S. by March 7, 2022. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the April through June 2021 period, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture revised the appendices to its Dairy Tariff-Rate Quota Import Licensing Regulation for the 2021 tariff-rate quota year, it said in a notice released Sept. 1. USDA is making the changes to reflect the cumulative annual transfers from Appendix 1 to Appendix 2 for certain dairy product import licenses permanently surrendered by licensees or revoked by the Foreign Agricultural Service.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service will charge $324 for the 2022 tariff-rate quota (TRQ) year for each license issued to a person or firm by the U.S. Department of Agriculture authorizing the importation of certain dairy articles that are subject to tariff-rate quotas set forth in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, it said in a notice released Sept. 1. The new fee is $34 higher than the $290 fee charged for 2021 TRQ year licenses, and $24 higher than the three years prior (see 2010020010).
The Foreign Agricultural Service published a list of updated quantity trigger levels and applicable periods for products that may be subject to additional import duties under the safeguard provisions of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Agriculture.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is loosening requirements on importation of bovines and bovine products from Ecuador and Serbia, it said in a notice released Aug. 30. APHIS will classify Ecuador as having controlled risk, and Serbia as having negligible risk, of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, concurring with recommendations recently issued by the World Organization for Animal Health, the agency said. The countries had previously not been classified as having either controlled or negligible risk for BSE.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation announced Aug. 26 that Special Import Quota #19 for upland cotton will be established Sept. 2, allowing importation of 12,031,960 kilograms (55,262 bales) of upland cotton, the same as the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than Nov. 30, 2021, and entered into the U.S. by Feb. 28, 2022. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the April through June 2021 period, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced country-by-country allocations of additional fiscal year 2021 in-quota quantities of the tariff-rate quotas for imported raw cane sugar. USTR also announced sugar may be entered under the FY21 TRQ through Oct. 31, 2021, one month later than the usual last entry date. Of the 90,100 metric tons raw value added to the raw cane sugar TRQ by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Aug. 24 (see 2108230025), USTR is allocating quota amounts as follows: Argentina 4,662; Australia 8,999; Belize 1,193; Bolivia 867; Brazil 15,722; Colombia 2,602; Costa Rica 1,626; Dominican Republic 19,083; Ecuador 1,193; El Salvador 2,819; Eswatini (Swaziland) 1,735; Fiji 976; Guatemala 5,204; Guyana 1,301; Honduras 1,084; India 867; Jamaica 1,193; Malawi 1,084; Mauritius 1,301; Mozambique 1,410; Nicaragua 2,277; Panama 3,144; Peru 4,445; South Africa 2,494; Thailand 1,518; Zimbabwe 1,301.