Browse Data and Analysis

New Zealand continues to be an important market for U.S. agricultural products. In 2021, despite logistical and other challenges because of COVID-19, New Zealand’s imports continued to grow to a record US$ 625 million of U.S. agricultural products.

In 2022 Honduras has made no modifications or changes to its existing regulatory framework. As of October 2022, Honduras had more than 52,000 hectares (ha) of genetically engineered (GE) Corn production, a 37 percent increase from calendar 2021.

U.S. exporters enjoy a strong position in the Honduran market, thanks to the CAFTA-DR agreement. More than 95 percent of U.S. industrial and commercial goods can enter the country duty free, with the remaining tariffs to be phased out by 2025. Import tariffs for rice and chicken leg quarters will be eliminated in 2023, as well as for dairy products in 2025.

The New Zealand Productivity Commission submitted a report to the Government of New Zealand recommending that a review should be done on regulation of genetic modification to ensure it is fit for purpose and supports domestic innovation. Other than that, there have been no recent significant official changes to the genetically engineered (GE) policies established by the New Zealand government.

The outlook for the 2022/23 apple season in New Zealand is much more optimistic with the opening of international borders following COVID-19 restrictions. While the last two apple harvests were severely impacted by the lack of labor, the return of overseas workers under the Recognized Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme is expected to help allow a recovery in production, with the forecast up 12 percent from the previous year’s estimated crop.

New Zealand milk production is forecasted to fall slightly in 2023. Although milk prices are at extremely high levels and expected to remain elevated, a number of issues are limiting the production response. This includes a slowly declining national herd, and also that on-farm inflation is expected to remain high as a result of the weak NZ dollar impacting imported input prices, as well as strong global fuel prices.

SENASA and ARSA have made significant progress in expediting import procedures with the introduction of on-line options for requesting import permits, sanitary authorizations of imported raw materials, etc. that provides immediate electronic delivery to ports of entry. They also authorized in 2021 a private logistics hub that includes SENASA and Customs Clearance.

The National Plant, Animal Health and Food Safety Service (SENASA) is the regulatory agency in Honduras who is responsible for the inspection of all agricultural products that enter Honduras.

This report gives an overview of the food service – hotel, restaurant, and institutional sectors in Honduras and outlines current market trends, including best product prospects. In general, Hondurans like to dine out, both for convenience (mainly people working outside of the home) and on the weekends with family.

The Covid-19 pandemic had a major effect on the Hotel, Restaurant, Institutional (HRI) sector in New Zealand. This is especially true of the tourism and hospitality sectors which have been severely hit by the closed international borders.

New Zealand is expected to have already reached “peak” cattle numbers, and FAS/Wellington anticipates a very gradual decline in both dairy and beef cow numbers in the near future. One of the major influences on this is New Zealand governmental policy, and in particular regulations regarding livestock exclusion around certain water sources, as well as proposed pricing of agricultural emissions.

Sugar production and exports are projected slightly up in marketing year (MY) 2023 (October 2022 to September 2023) because of the increase in productivity yields, harvested area, additional investments in the sugar sector and increased exports as the Honduran Sugar Industry recovers from the impact of hurricanes ETA and IOTA in November 2020.