Browse Data and Analysis

This report explores India’s Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional (HRI) sector with an overview of the industry’s growth, key players, and market trends. Key factors driving expansion include urbanization, rising incomes, and an increasingly consumer...

This report outlines regulatory requirements and import procedures for food and agricultural imports into Pakistan. Compared to the last report submitted in December 2023, this report contains additions to the Food Laws and Nutritional Labelling...

FAS New Delhi expects India’s peanut oilseed production to rise by 18 percent in marketing year (MY) 2024/2025 and reach 7.2 million metric tons (MMT) due to higher market prices, an increased planting area of 5.6 million hectares, and the use of high-yielding varieties that produced higher yields.

In October 2024, the National Biosafety Committee (NBC) authorized imports of genetically engineered (GE) soybeans for food, feed, and processing. GE soybean imports are expected to resume in 2025, boosting prospects that the 1.5-million-ton import forecast for 2024/25 will be achieved.

In 2023, the agri-food market in France was still impacted by inflation, recorded at 3.8 percent. Price increases most severely impacted the lower income strata of society and cut into their ability to purchase. Many consumers are still moving away from big brands to less expensive distributor brands.

France is the world’s leading tourist destination. Revenues are exceeding pre-covid standards since France earned 126 billion in 2023 due to foreign tourism. Commercial catering remains the dominant sector in the HRI industry, holding a 58 percent market share and generating a turnover of $73.3 billion, reflecting a 9-percent increase from 2022.

On November 5, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare published a marketing year 2024/25 production forecast at the lowest level in five years, at 23.4 million 480 lb. bales on an area of 11.4 million hectares.

The cotton production forecast for 2024/25 has been revised downward to 5.2 million bales, with the area unchanged at 2 million hectares.

India’s 2025 beef production (mostly carabeef) is forecast to reach 4.64 million metric tons (MMT), up from 4.57 MMT in 2024, on steady domestic and increased export demand.

Sri Lanka’s agricultural biotechnology policies remain unchanged. Over the past year, there has been no progress in the approval of its draft Biosafety Act, which establishes a system to protect biodiversity, the environment and human, plant and animal health while minimizing the risks of biotechnology.

FAS Mumbai forecasts MY 2024/25 Indian raw cotton exports at 1.2 million 480 lb. bales, 55 percent lower than previous estimate, due to India lint prices trading four percent higher than global prices, prompting buyers to prefer finer quality machine-picked cotton from foreign origins.

Kazakhstan has not announced any changes to its biotechnology policies. Major challenges like climate change, variable weather, monocropping wheat, and the reliance on Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) member biotechnology regulations could be a future catalyst for Kazakhstan to develop its own biotechnology law.