Browse Data and Analysis

Seeking to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus through imported foods, the Hong Kong government has been testing chilled and frozen foods and their packaging.

As elsewhere, the Taiwan food service sector suffered a major setback with the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite recording no domestic cases until March 2021, Taiwan food sectors were impacted by a lack of tourists as strict border controls limited travel.

Seeking to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus through imported foods, the Macau government has been testing chilled and frozen foods and their packaging. After one year of monitoring, Macau did not identify any virus-contaminated shipments.

This report contains notes taken by U.S. Mission China staff during two recent outreach sessions conducted by a surrogate(s) for the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC) on Decrees 248 and 249.

On October 1, Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries affirmed that in a change from its previous announcement in January it will increase the tariff-rate quota volumes for butter to 9,500 MT, although it will maintain non-fat dry milk (NFDM) imports at 750 MT for Japanese fiscal year (JFY) 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing movement control orders have severely impacted the Malaysian hotel, restaurant, and institutional (HRI) industry, with a significant decline of 71.2 percent to $12.5 billion in tourism receipts in 2020.

South Korea managed the COVID-19 pandemic relatively well, and consumer spending on food remained strong during the pandemic due to increased home eating.

As international rice prices gained competitiveness over Chinese rice prices, significant import volumes have entered China since November 2020.

The military coup continues to negatively impact Burma’s economy, and the value of the Myanmar Kyat hit record lows in September. Arriving shipments, however, are being cleared and are not facing many clearance challenges.

The Indonesian foodservice industry is valued at USD$24.3 billion, making it the largest market in Southeast Asia.

The Ministry of Agriculture issued Regulation Number 15 Year 2021 (15/2021) that includes provisions regarding the import of food products of animal origin.

On September 29, 2021, the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC) transmitted a letter regarding Decree 248 to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China.