The Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation on Jan. 9 announced that Special Import Quota #12 for upland cotton will be established on Jan. 16, allowing importation of 11,008,601 kilograms (50,562 bales) of upland cotton, down from 12,237,111 kilograms (56,204 bales) in the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than April 14, 2020, and entered into the U.S. by July 13, 2020. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the period September 2019 through November 2019, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is adding Serbia and Myanmar to its list of regions subject to import restrictions on pork and pork products because they are affected by African swine fever, it said. Restrictions take effect retroactively to Aug.14, 2019, for Serbia, and to Aug. 19, 2019, for Myanmar.
The Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation on Dec. 19 announced that Special Import Quota #9 for upland cotton will be established on Dec. 26, allowing importation of 12,237,111 kilograms (56,204 bales) of upland cotton. The quota is the first announced since May (see 1905170009). It will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than March 24, 2020, and entered into the U.S. by June 22, 2020. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the period August 2019 through October 2019, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service announced the 2020 rates it will charge meat and poultry establishments, egg products plants, and importers and exporters for providing voluntary, overtime and holiday inspection and identification, certification and laboratory services. Effective Jan. 5, the agency's rate schedule is as follows:
The Food Safety and Inspection Service is amending its regulations by removing lists of foreign countries eligible to export meat, poultry and egg products to the U.S., and instead using only the lists it currently maintains on its website, the agency said in a final rule. “This rule will allow FSIS to more efficiently and clearly communicate equivalence determinations by maintaining a single list of exporting countries on its website, rather than maintaining one list on the website and outdated lists in the codified regulations,” it said. “The criteria FSIS uses to evaluate whether a foreign country is eligible to export meat, poultry, or egg products has not changed.” The final rule takes effect Dec. 27.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service published a list of ongoing international sanitary and phytosanitary standard-setting activities of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), and the North American Plant Protection Organization (NAPPO). Comments on the standards being considered may be submitted at any time, APHIS said.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service may allow the importation of carrots from South Korea, it said in a notice. The agency has issued a draft pest risk analysis that recommends that imports be allowed, with certain conditions, including phytosanitary certificates from the South Korean government, registration of production locations, washing and disinfection requirements, and port of entry inspections, among other things. Comments on the draft pest risk analysis are due Jan. 10.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is loosening requirements on importation of bovines and bovine products from Nicaragua, it said in a notice. APHIS will reclassify the country as having negligible risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, concurring with recommendations recently issued by the World Organization for Animal Health, the agency said. Nicaragua was previously classified as having controlled risk of BSE, a category for which imports face tighter restrictions.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service finalized rules to allow imports of Chinese poultry products from birds slaughtered in China, it said in a notice. Slaughtered poultry processed in certified Chinese establishments will be eligible for export to the U.S., subject to all other applicable requirements and re-inspection at the U.S. port of entry, FSIS said. As proposed (see 1706160035), eligible products would be limited to cooked poultry, it said." This final rule is consistent with the provisions of the proposed rule," the agency said. The rules will take effect Dec. 9.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service will allow imports of Siluriformes fish and fish products (i.e., catfish) from Thailand, China and Vietnam as eligible to export Siluriformes fish and fish products (i.e., catfish) to the U.S., the agency said in three notices. The listing of each country of the list of eligible exporting countries follows FSIS reviews of each country's laws and inspection systems that determined equivalent safety to the U.S. meat inspections, it said. "Only raw Siluriformes fish and fish products produced in certified" establishments in each country are eligible for export to the U.S., FSIS said.