The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India recently published a notification on revised standards for milk and milk products, potentially impacting imports, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service report released Dec. 26. The revised standards are scheduled to take effect July 1, 2020, USDA said. The changes revise several standards, including the total sodium content allowed in goat or sheep milk products and packaging methods for low fat milk products.

New tariff rates between China and Pakistan will take effect Jan. 1, 2020, as part of the two countries’ recently signed free trade agreement, China’s Commerce Ministry said in a Dec. 24 press release, according to an unofficial translation. As part of the agreement, China and Pakistan will “gradually increase” the elimination of tariffs, going from waivers on 35 percent of tariff lines to 75 percent, China said. The countries will also implement a 20 percent tariff reduction “on other products that account for 5% of their respective tax items,” China said.

China will continue to take steps to expand imports, including further reducing tariffs, the China Ministry of Commerce said during a Dec. 26 press conference. “Expanding imports is one of the important connotations of promoting the high-quality development of trade,” a ministry spokesman said, according to an unofficial translation. “The reduction of import tariffs will help to form a new pattern of balanced, coordinated and sustainable trade development, and will promote the coordinated development of trade and industry. We will continue to take active measures to promote the orderly and free flow of international and domestic factors, the efficient allocation of resources, and the deep integration of domestic and foreign markets.” China recently said it would reduce tariffs on more than 850 items in 2020 (see 1912230051).

The National People's Congress Standing Committee of China will consider a draft law on export controls, Xinhua reported on Dec. 24. The draft would add new limits on “the export of special items including nuclear and biological materials as well as weapons, aiming to fulfill the country's international obligations of non-proliferation and protect the nation's security and development interests,” the state-run news outlet said. The law would also require “the supervision of the entire export process including transit and transshipment as well as re-export,” according to the report.

Singapore Customs is “decommissioning” its Singapore Customs Academy website now that customs courses will be provided by two of the country’s technology schools (see 1911290011), the agency said in a Dec. 23 press release. The website will be decommissioned Dec. 30, and the academy's existing suite of courses will transfer to the schools for participants to register for instruction on those schools' websites.

Indonesia aims to export between 100,000 and 500,000 metric tons of “premium” rice in 2020, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service report released Dec. 23. Indonesia had been a net importer of rice in recent years, USDA said, due to local supplies struggling to meet demand. USDA said it “remains unclear” how the country will meet the proposed export volumes and how it will compete with less expensive rice from Thailand and Vietnam. The country’s media outlets reported the “main destination” for the exports may be Saudi Arabia, as Indonesians prepare for pilgrimages to Mecca in 2020, the report said.

The effects of African swine fever on feed demand in the Philippines may not be “as severe as initially forecast,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report released Dec. 19. Estimates predict a decline of 100,000 metric tons in feed wheat consumption, down from a decline of 300,000 metric tons forecast earlier, USDA said, potentially reducing the need for feed imports. USDA also said the Philippines is facing low rice production due to a recent typhoon, which will likely lead to an increase in 200,000 metric tons of rice imports.

Singapore Customs issued a Dec. 19 circular about its upgraded free trade agreement with China (see 1910210033) and the deal’s rules of origin provisions, which will take effect Jan. 1, 2020. The circular outlines “key changes” to the rules for Singapore’s exports to China, including an expansion to the list of “Product Specific Rules,” updated criteria for determining the origin of products, information on submissions of manufacturing cost statements to qualify certain products for the Product Specific Rules and more.

Japan and Uzbekistan signed a “customs mutual support agreement” to prevent smuggling and more efficiently carry out customs procedures, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a Dec. 19 press release, according to an unofficial translation. The agreement aims to reduce smuggling of illegal drugs and improve “trade facilitation measures” by simplifying customs procedures, it said. The agreement calls for more information sharing, which will ensure “proper application” of customs laws and customs investigations.

China released another round of tariff exemptions for certain U.S. imports, according to an unofficial translation of a Dec. 19 notice from China’s State Council Customs Tariff Commission. The waivers will be granted from Dec. 26, 2019, through Dec. 25, 2020, and will include six chemical and oil products, including certain lubricating oils; “adhesive” items; wax; polyethylene; a linear low-density polyethylene; and polypropylene, China said. Tariffs already levied on these imports will not be refunded, according to a Dec. 19 report from Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency. China previously announced tariff exemptions for 16 U.S. goods (see 1909110051), later adding pork and soybeans (see 1909130013). Xinhua said the commission is continuing to “work on the exemption process” and will release “the exemption lists of U.S. goods subject to the second round of additional tariffs in due course.”