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India is gearing up for a record wheat harvest in market year (MY) 2024/2025. FAS New Delhi (Post) forecasts India's wheat production at 112.5 million metric tons (MMT), thanks to the timely and record plantings of wheat, which benefitted from favorable weather conditions from the time of planting through the reproductive growth stages.

Rice export prices further declined 1-3 percent due to the weakening of the Thai baht against the U.S. dollar and the downward price pressure from the new MY2023/24 off-season rice supplies.

Vietnam’s economy is on the path to recovery. Post revises Vietnam’s MY2022/23 soybean meal consumption down to 5.65 MMT due to lower aquaculture feed consumption and forecasts an increase to 5.85 MMT in MY 2023/24.

On December 29, 2023, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) submitted two major reports related to climate change to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC): the Fourth National Communication on Climate Change (NC4) and the Third Biennial Update Report on Climate Change (BUR3).

Cotton production in Australia is set for a fourth successive year of high production in marketing year (MY) 2024/25, forecast at 5.5 million bales, which would be the third largest crop. The prospect of average rainfalls over the winter/spring period if realized would establish improved irrigation water availability for growers.

With expectations for no change in area, and assuming average yields, cotton production is forecast to decline in 2024/25. Given prospects for an increase in cotton textile exports, domestic use is forecast to increase in 2024/25.

On March 12, 2024, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) National Health Commission (NHC) and State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) jointly published an Announcement on releasing 47 new or updated National Food Safety Standards (known as Guo Jia Biao Zhun, or GB Standards) and 6 amendments sheets.

On February 22, 2024, India’s Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying/Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, issued Office Memorandum File No. L-110109(3)/1/2016-Trade (E-2625) outlining the parameters for premium frozen duck meat for import into India.

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka’s (Sri Lanka) Ministry of Health extended the implementation effective date of the Food (Trans Fat) Regulations (2022) from January 1, 2024 to January 1, 2025.

China remained the world's largest seafood producer in 2023, with official production estimated at 71 million metric tons (MMT), up 3.5 percent from 2022.

FAS Bangkok forecasts Thailand’s rice and corn production to marginally increase in MY 2024/25 along with expanded acreage in response to current attractive farm-gate prices. In 2025, Thailand will likely export 7.5 million metric tons of rice or well above its 5-year average.

From March 4-6, 2024, 26 representatives from all ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Timor-Leste participated in a USDA-funded agricultural biotechnology workshop - along with dozens of private sector stakeholders at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia.