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Venezuelan milk production reached 1.5 billion litres in 2021, just a 2 percent increase from 2020. The formal dairy industry processed 12 percent of this output, only working at 20 percent of their capacity, due to the collapse of the market and Venezuelan consumers favoring artisanal cheeses.

The Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department is in the process of mapping out legislative initiatives coupled with public education to enhance waste management. U.S. food exports to the city could be impacted by the government’s adoption of various producer responsibility schemes (PRSs) relating to plastic and glass beverage containers by which manufacturers/importers are expected to pay a levy.

On May 16, 2022, the Government of Mexico (GOM) published a presidential decree temporarily exempting the payment of import duties on 66 tariff lines covering staple food items and basic commodities for food processing. The tariff suspension is part of the GOM’s recently announced Program to Combat Food Price Inflation and Scarcity (PACIC).

Coffee production for marketing year (MY) 2022/23 (April to March) is forecast at 354,000 60-kg bags of Green Bean Equivalent (GBE) basis, an increase of 36 percent over the MY 2021/2022 estimate of 261,000 60-kg bags, due an increase in expected area harvested and improved pruning techniques.

Container freight shipments have slowed to a trickle since a cyberattack took Costa Rica’s customs and taxation systems offline on April 18. Significant delays and increased costs are compounding challenges faced by Costa Rican importers already coping with pandemic-related supply chain disruptions and the war in Ukraine.

On May 16, 2022, the Government of Mexico (GOM) published a presidential decree temporarily exempting the payment of import duties on 66 tariff lines covering staple food items and basic commodities for food processing. The tariff suspension is part of the GOM’s recently announced Program to Combat Food Price Inflation and Scarcity.

The new Costa Rican government has announced a resumption of Hass avocado imports and proposed abolishing minimum prices for milled rice, following through on campaign promises to respect international law and address rising consumer prices.

In the first quarter of 2022, U.S. agricultural exports fell to the lowest level in four years. While expanding U.S. direct exports to China, and lingering shipping issues continue to drive the overall decline in U.S. agricultural exports to Hong Kong, government restrictions in response to the city’s fifth wave of the pandemic exacerbated the drop in U.S. agricultural sales.

The Government of Mexico (GOM) has announced a program to combat food price inflation and scarcity titled “Paquete Contra la Inflacion y la Carestia (PACIC).” Along with PACIC, President López Obrador announced a plan to maintain “fair prices” for the basic food basket, through a voluntary agreement with the private sector, without the use of mandatory price controls.

Resolution 810 of 2021, issued by Colombia’s Ministry of Health and Social Protection (MINHEALTH), is set to go into effect on December 16, 2022. Resolution 810 establishes the technical regulations of the nutrition and front-of-pack labeling requirements for packaged food for human consumption in Colombia.

The Hong Kong wine market has stayed resilient since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The local foodservice business has suffered the most as the operation of restaurants and bars were often curbed to contain the virus. However, wine retail sales injected energy to a sluggish market and enabled the continuation of wine consumption in Hong Kong.

El Salvador’s coffee production is expected to reach 639,000 sixty-kg bags in marketing year (MY) 2021/22. The Salvadoran coffee sector continues to struggle mainly due to low international prices, climate change, continued coffee leaf rust, and a lack of a long-term strategy that has hindered investment at the farm level. The MY2022/23 crop is forecast to slightly decrease to 619,000 sixty-kg bags.