The U.S. Department of Agriculture revised the appendices to its Dairy Tariff-Rate Quota Import Licensing Regulation for the 2021 tariff-rate quota year, it said in a notice released Sept. 1. USDA is making the changes to reflect the cumulative annual transfers from Appendix 1 to Appendix 2 for certain dairy product import licenses permanently surrendered by licensees or revoked by the Foreign Agricultural Service.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service will charge $324 for the 2022 tariff-rate quota (TRQ) year for each license issued to a person or firm by the U.S. Department of Agriculture authorizing the importation of certain dairy articles that are subject to tariff-rate quotas set forth in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, it said in a notice released Sept. 1. The new fee is $34 higher than the $290 fee charged for 2021 TRQ year licenses, and $24 higher than the three years prior (see 2010020010).
The Foreign Agricultural Service published a list of updated quantity trigger levels and applicable periods for products that may be subject to additional import duties under the safeguard provisions of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Agriculture.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is loosening requirements on importation of bovines and bovine products from Ecuador and Serbia, it said in a notice released Aug. 30. APHIS will classify Ecuador as having controlled risk, and Serbia as having negligible risk, of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, concurring with recommendations recently issued by the World Organization for Animal Health, the agency said. The countries had previously not been classified as having either controlled or negligible risk for BSE.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation announced Aug. 26 that Special Import Quota #19 for upland cotton will be established Sept. 2, allowing importation of 12,031,960 kilograms (55,262 bales) of upland cotton, the same as the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than Nov. 30, 2021, and entered into the U.S. by Feb. 28, 2022. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the April through June 2021 period, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The Agricultural Marketing Service is amending the Cotton Board Rules and Regulations to decrease the value assigned to imported cotton for the purposes of calculating supplemental assessments on imports collected under the Cotton Research and Promotion Program, it said in a direct final rule released Aug. 25. The revised value is 1.1136, a decrease of .0426 cent per kilogram. The decrease reflects a fall in the average price of upland cotton received by U.S. farmers during the period January through December 2020. AMS's notice also includes a table of adjusted assessments corresponding to each Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading for which they are due. The changes take effect Oct. 25, unless adverse comments are received by Sept. 27.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced country-by-country allocations of additional fiscal year 2021 in-quota quantities of the tariff-rate quotas for imported raw cane sugar. USTR also announced sugar may be entered under the FY21 TRQ through Oct. 31, 2021, one month later than the usual last entry date. Of the 90,100 metric tons raw value added to the raw cane sugar TRQ by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Aug. 24 (see 2108230025), USTR is allocating quota amounts as follows: Argentina 4,662; Australia 8,999; Belize 1,193; Bolivia 867; Brazil 15,722; Colombia 2,602; Costa Rica 1,626; Dominican Republic 19,083; Ecuador 1,193; El Salvador 2,819; Eswatini (Swaziland) 1,735; Fiji 976; Guatemala 5,204; Guyana 1,301; Honduras 1,084; India 867; Jamaica 1,193; Malawi 1,084; Mauritius 1,301; Mozambique 1,410; Nicaragua 2,277; Panama 3,144; Peru 4,445; South Africa 2,494; Thailand 1,518; Zimbabwe 1,301.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is increasing the fiscal year 2021 tariff rate quota for raw cane sugar by 90,100 metric tons raw value, it said in a notice released Aug. 23. The increase brings the total FY21 TRQ, originally set at the 1,117,195 MTRV minimum mandated by the World Trade Organization, to 1,207,295 MTRV, USDA said. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will allocate the increase among supplying countries and customs areas. Raw cane sugar under this quota must be accompanied by a certificate for quota eligibility. USDA is also extending the period for entry under the FY21 raw cane sugar TRQ by one month, until Oct. 31.
The Agricultural Marketing Service is proposing to end exemptions that allow the use in organic products of 12 non-organic substances, it said. Exemptions for use in organic crop and livestock production would end for non-organic sucrose octanoate esters, vitamin B, oxytocin, procaine and sucrose octanoate esters, AMS said in a notice released Aug. 23. The agency would also end exemptions for use in organic handling for non-organic alginic acid, colors (black currant juice color, blueberry juice color, carrot juice color, cherry juice color, grape juice color, paprika color, pumpkin juice color, turmeric extract color), kelp, konjac flour, sweet potato starch, Turkish bay leaves and whey protein concentrate. AMS is considering the changes as part of its 2022 sunset review of the organic National List. Comments are due Oct. 25.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation announced Aug. 19 that Special Import Quota #18 for upland cotton will be established Aug. 26, allowing importation of 12,031,960 kilograms (55,262 bales) of upland cotton, the same as the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than Nov. 23, 2021, and entered into the U.S. by Feb. 21, 2022. CCC had announced Special Import Quota #17 on Aug. 12. Established Aug. 19, the quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than Nov. 16, 2021, and entered into the U.S. by Feb. 14, 2022. The allowed amount in the #17 quota was up from Special Import Quota #16 for upland cotton, established Aug. 12, allowing importation of 11,607,075 kilograms (53,310 bales) of upland cotton (see 2108060006). The #17 and #18 quotas are equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the April through June 2021 period, the most recent three months for which data is available. The #16 is based on March through May 2021.