California Rice to China and USTR Suspends Thailand Trade
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**California-grown rice unloaded at a Chinese port last Tuesday completed the first shipment of U.S.-grown rice to China.
The USA Rice Federation says the premium, medium-grain rice from California will be sold by a Chinese retail chain known as Sungiven.
Chinese importers visited California and two other rice-growing states last year as part of a longstanding effort to open the market to U.S. rice.
**The U.S. Trade Representative is suspending $817 million in trade preferences for Thailand under the Generalized System of Preferences program after failing to provide U.S. pork with “equitable and reasonable market access.”
Sunday’s announcement follows a 2018 National Pork Producers Council petition asking the USTR to review Thailand’s eligibility for the GSP program, that offers duty-free treatment to certain goods entering the U.S.
NPPC President “AV” Roth thanked the Administration saying Thailand has taken full advantage of U.S. trade benefits for years, while imposing a completely unjustified de facto ban on U.S. pork.
**Organic fresh produce sales exceeded $2.2 billion for the third quarter this year, with volume sales up 15% from the same period in 2019 and dollar sales up 16%.
Organic Produce Network CEO Matt Seeley tells thepacker.com, organics drove twice the dollar share compared to volume share, 12% of total produce dollars and 6% of produce volume, underscoring why organics are so powerful and important to retailers.
https://www.thepacker.com/article/organic-share-fresh-produce-dollar-sales-reaches-12-q3?mkt/
