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| Horticultural & Tropical Products Division | Return to the H&TP Home Page |
April 24, 2000
Cocoa and Honey
Reporting Coverage Discontinued
Beginning with the June, 2000, Tropical Products: World Markets
and Trade Circular and the November, 2000, Sugar: World Markets
and Trade Circular, commodity and country analysis and
statistical tables for cocoa and honey will be discontinued. This
decision was necessitated due to declining Foreign Agricultural
Service budget resources and the need to more strategically
target remaining resources in support of the agency's primary
mission to facilitate the expansion of export opportunities for
U.S.-produced agricultural commodities. The Horticultural and
Tropical Products Division (HTP) expects to continue to receive
voluntary reporting on cocoa production and trade from an
abbreviated number of countries and these will continue to be
posted on the FAS and HTP Home Pages upon receipt.
U.S. Final Dumping Ruling On Chinese Apple Juice Should Help Firm Domestic Prices For Apple Products
On Thursday, April 6, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced final antidumping duties on concentrated apple juice (CAJ) imports from China. Dumping margins were established between 0 percent and 52 percent, down slightly from the November preliminary calculation of 55 percent. Correspondingly, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) conducted a final hearing last Monday, April 10, regarding domestic industry injury, and will issue its final decision by May 22. Although overall U.S. CAJ imports this season (from July 1999 to January 2000) were up 8 percent, imports from China decreased 72 percent. Moreover, there is some indication that domestic prices for apples and apple products are firming up. Industry sources in the Pacific Northwest report that, as of March 15, season to date fresh average apple prices are $17 per 42-pound standard box compared to $14 per box during the same period last season. Prices for juice apples in the northwest this season are estimated around $120 per ton, compared to an average of $40 per ton in 1998/99.
Coffee Producers Develop Plan to Control Coffee Supplies
On April 5, the Association of Coffee Producing Countries (ACPC) recommended at a technical meeting that the ACPC Council adopt plans for a coffee retention scheme. The ACPC is proposing the retention plan in an effort to control the supplies of coffee in the market in an attempt to raise sagging coffee prices. Prices for Brazilian arabicas in March dropped nearly 18 percent from the December price. Reports indicate that the retention plan is similar to a scheme adopted by the ACPC in 1993 and would be triggered when prices fell below certain levels. Although no specific details of the plan were released, the technical meeting members are submitting the proposal to the 14-member country ACPC Council on May 8 and 9, for implementation from June 1, 2000.
Potato Safeguard Quota has been Filled for 2000
The Secretariat of Commerce and Industrial Development (SECOFI) announced on April 5, in the Diario Oficial (Mexican Federal Register), that Mexico's 2000 NAFTA safeguard quota of 3,701.48 tons for U.S. potatoes (frozen french fries, HTS# 2004.10.01) has been filled. Starting April 6, imports of these products from the United States are subject to the 20-percent safeguard tariff agreed under NAFTA. This rate will remain in effect through December 31, 2000. The in-quota tariff was 6 percent. (Source: Diario Oficial 4/5/00)
USDA Under Secretary Kicks off Summer Tomato Promotion at Seiyu
During his brief visit to Japan last week, Under Secretary Schumacher joined Mr. Hashimoto, the President of Seiyu Foods, one of Japan's leading national supermarket retailers, to kick off the summer retail promotional season for U.S. roma tomatoes. ATO Tokyo arranged an exclusive one-day promotional event with a cooking demo and press conference at Seiyu's national test store in Tokyo to which USA Tomatoes supplied romas. Building on ATO Japan's close working relationship with the President and top decisionmakers, while leveraging the public relations value of the joint promotion with the Under Secretary, Seiyu moved quickly to finalize plans last week to carry U.S. romas this summer. Moreover, at ATO's suggestion, the executive management of Seiyu Foods and Seiyo Food Systems, Seiyu's national foodservice "sister" chain, are actively pursuing opportunities to collaboratively purchase U.S. produce to achieve economies of scale through coordinated summer marketing campaigns. This is expected to spark a competitive response from other major retailers, promising even more industry-wide purchases of U.S. tomatoes this year. (ATO Tokyo)
British Columbia's Government Renews Orchard Replant Program
Last week, the British Columbia (B.C.) government announced a C$27 million revitalization package for the province’s tree fruit industry. Of the total, C$25 million will be used to extend the Orchard Replant Program for five years and C$2 million will be used to establish a new industry development trust fund. In 1990, the Okanagan Valley Tree Fruit Authority (OVTFA) was established to assist with the revitalization of the tree fruit industry in British Columbia. In 1991 a replant program was implemented to assist in the replanting of older plantings with new high density plantings of new higher value varieties. The grant program was due to expire in December 2000. In late September 1999, the B.C. government announced that it would carry out an intensive consultation program to redesign the orchard replant program for an additional five years (see Attache Report CA9126).
Federal Funding for Tart Cherry Quality Program
Ontario’s Tender Fruit Producers’ Marketing Board has received more than C$260,000 in Canadian Adaptation and Rural Development (CARD) funding through the CanAdapt program to help research new processing technology and quality control standards for tart (sour) cherries. The quality assurance project will focus on processing improvements for cherry chilling, pit detection and removal and other quality control parameters. A protocol will be published as a manual for use by processors and will be in place for the 2000 season. Created in the 1995 federal budget, the CARD fund is a C$60-million-per-year Government of Canada initiative designed to provide Canada's agriculture and agri-food industry with adaptation funds to help the agri-food sector become more competitive in the global marketplace.
Eating out Leaps 33 Percent in Five Years
Yet more evidence of the increasing trend towards eating out, with less spent on food shopping, has come with the results of the National Food Survey 1999. The UK’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) survey shows total household expenditure on food, including soft and alcoholic drinks and confectionery, fell half a percent. This was countered by a 9-percent increase in spending on food eaten out. MAFF says this represents a 33 percent jump within five years. While sales of primary products such as milk, meat, poultry and bread fell by as much as 9 percent, the amount spent on prepared ready meals and frozen meat products soared 8 percent. Fresh and dried pasta sales were up 24 percent, and purchases of grapes and bananas were up 13 percent and 2 percent, respectively, in 1999, doubling in the last decade.
New Zealand Independent Apple Exports Reach 1.7 Million Cartons
Independent exporters have been granted permits to market about 10 percent of this year’s New Zealand apple harvest. Latest figures from the Apple and Pear Board’s Export Permits Committee show that it has granted permits for 1.7 million cartons of fruit out of an expected export crop of 17 million cartons. That is nearly three times the amount of fruit exported outside of ENZA last season. ENZA is the brand name under which the Apple and Pear Marketing Board buys and sells all export grade apples and pears grown in New Zealand for world markets. Applications had totaled 8.3 million cartons, but 6.3 million had been declined, withdrawn or had their volumes reduced. The committee is still considering applications for a further 440,000 cartons.
New Zealand Fruit Industry Expanding
The New Zealand fruit industry, from apples to kiwifruit, doubled revenues in the past ten years and aims to do it again with sales topping NZ $3.8 billion (U.S. $1.4 billion at current exchange rates) by 2010. This $3.8 billion will include $2.2 billion exports, $0.6 billion domestic and $1 billion of leveraged knowledge. The total value of the avocado industry rose from $11 million in 1993 to $28 million in 1999, and is forecast to exceed $40 million in 2000. Export values are expected to exceed $116 million by 2005. The wine industry is expected to experience a 28-percent growth in area of planted grapes by 2002. Export revenue from citrus is projected to increase from $8.7 million to $32 million in the next ten years. Summerfruit, persimmons, berryfruit and olives are also well positioned to make significant contributions to both the export and domestic markets with volumes in some sectors expected to double within the next decade. Significant revenue is also being generated from knowledge and intellectual property within the New Zealand fruit industry, such as continued development of varieties of pipfruit and kiwifruit. This too, has huge potential for further development.
Low Export Prices Expected for New Zealand Braeburn Apples Again
New Zealand apple growers are taking up an offer to sell their Braeburn crop for as little as NZ 16c/kg (U.S. 8 cents/kg) for juicing so that they can get at least some guaranteed return this season. The major marketer, ENZA, has made the offer as a financial safety net for growers who are in danger of being caught by a blowout in export crop volumes in one of the best growing seasons in years. ENZA had predicted a payout of NZ $14.24/carton for Braeburns this season, based on an export crop of 7.4 million cartons. Recent crop estimates have shown that the potential oversupply of the New Zealand Braeburn crop could be close to 1 million cartons, and export prices could be forced down to the point where growers were left with nothing after export costs were taken out. At 16 cents/kg, ENZA would be subsidising the price.
Organic Kiwifruit to Sweden
While details are to be finalised, it is probable that Sweden will purchase organic kiwifruit exclusively from Zespri International during the 2000 season, beginning in April-May. Zespri is encouraging growers to convert to organic management regimes. Currently, close to 5 percent of the total New Zealand crop is organic, with 10 percent estimated by 2005. Europe is thought to overtake Japan this year as the largest market for organic kiwifruit, but the full extent of the European market is unknown as the demand greatly exceeds the supply.
The Economic Implications of the Methyl Bromide Phaseout
According to the report published by the Economic Research
Service (ERS) on March 29, 2000, the pesticide methyl bromide is
being phased out internationally under the Montreal Protocol.
Methyl bromide has been used for over 50 years to control insect,
nematodes, pathogens, and weeds. It is used for soil fumigation
before planting many fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, and
agricultural nurseries; for post-harvest fumigation of
commodities in storage and prior to shipment; and for
government-required quarantine treatment to prevent the spread of
regulated exotic pests. Many U.S. users are concerned that
existing alternatives to methyl bromide will be less effective
and cause financial losses. To help mitigate the impacts of the
phaseout, USDA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
universities, and private firms are working to develop new
alternatives and make them available to methyl bromide users.
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