Browse Data and Analysis

The COVID 19 pandemic in Malaysia saw most government agencies operating at minimum staffing with most working from home throughout 2020 and 2021. This has severely impacted the number of GE events approved by the National Biosafety Board (NBB).

In the current marketing year running from July 2021 to June 2022, Korea’s fresh apple production and consumption are projected to rise by 13 percent after several years of gradual decline.

Since the start of COVID-19, Philippine consumers have incorporated more fresh fruit into their diet. Global exports of fresh fruits to the Philippines increased 36 percent to $695 million in 2020 and are forecast to grow five percent in 2021.

The Turkish cotton crop for Marketing Year (MY) 2021/22 is forecast at 450,000 hectares and 825,000 metric tons (MT; 3.79 million bales). Cotton consumption is expected to be 1,850,000 MT (8.50 million bales) for the same MY.

On November 17, 2021, the European Commission published a proposal for legislation aimed at preventing products causing deforestation or forest degradation from entering the EU market.

On November 15, 2021, Statistics Korea (KOSTAT) released a revised 2021 rice production estimate of 3.882 million metric tons (MMT), up an additional 1.6 percentage points from the initial rice production estimate in early September and up 10.7 percent from the previous year.

New Zealand is an important market in the Pacific for U.S. agricultural products. In 2020, despite logistical and other challenges as a result of COVID-19, New Zealand’s imports continued strong and included US$ 575 million of U.S. agricultural products.

Hungary is one of the strongest opponents of agricultural biotechnology in the European Union. Maintaining the country’s GE-free status is still a government priority.

Korea is in the process of revising its existing Living Modified Organism (LMO) Act to cover products of innovative biotechnologies, including genome edited products.

There are no significant changes to the agricultural biotechnology situation in the Czech Republic in 2021. The country generally maintains a scientific approach towards biotechnology.

Public rejection of genetically engineered (GE) plants in Germany is widespread. There is no commercial GE crop production and practically no foods labeled as containing “genetically modified organisms” (“GMO”) on the market.

The State Administration for Market Regulation issued a revised draft of the General Standard for Nut and Seed Food for domestic comment.