On April 16 and 17, 2012, the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:

The Department of Agriculture announced a fiscal year 2012 raw sugar tariff-rate quota increase of 420,000 short tons raw value (SRTV) (reassigned from FY 2012 surplus allocations from the cane sugar domestic marketing allotment), effective April 19, 2012.

From April 11 to April 13, 2012, the Foreign Agriculture Service issued the following GAIN reports:

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued emails April 16, 2012, announcing changes to some Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued a final rule, effective May 17, 2012, amending the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the import into the continental U.S. of pomegranates from Chile, subject to a systems approach.

From April 6 to April 10, 2012, the Foreign Agriculture Service issued the following GAIN reports:

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued emails April 13 & 16, 2012, announcing changes to some Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is requesting comments by June 15, 2012, on its risk analysis and draft phytosanitary measures for the importation into the continental U.S. of fresh strawberry fruit from Egypt, which is currently not allowed. After reviewing the comments, if the overall conclusions of the risk analysis and the Administrator’s determination of risk remain unchanged, APHIS will authorize the importation of fresh strawberry fruit from Egypt into the continental U.S. subject to the requirements specified in the risk management document.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is seeking comments by June 15, 2012, on a proposed rule that would amend the regulations concerning the importation of fruits and vegetables to allow the importation of fresh bananas from the Philippines into the continental U.S.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued a final rule, effective May 16, 2012, amending the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the importation of fresh pitaya fruit from Central America (i.e., from Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama) into the continental U.S.