News

Geneva and Brussels IGTC Meetings

On November 7-12 Gary Martin, as acting in his role as President of the IGTC, traveled to Geneva, Switzerland and Brussels, Belgium. In Geneva, the IGTC conducted a General Assembly and Strategy Session.   During the meetings, the IGTC established a new business plan that provides for transitioning the IGTC from NAEGA administration and financial underwriting to a member funded and sustained federation.  Other actions taken by IGTC included welcoming of a new IGTC member, the South African Cereals and Oilseeds Trade Association (SACOTA) and election of officers. Gary also attended a meeting of the IPPC’s ePhyto Project Industry Advisory Group (IAG). More details on these and other NAEGA actions in Geneva and Brussels can be found in the trip report here.

U.S. Government Transition – Mexico

One of our top priorities related to the transition of the U.S. government will be preserving and upgrading the North American agriculture trade. To this end, discussions with Ken Ramos, Head of Trade at the Mexican Embassy to discuss impacts and changes that may result from trade policies of the president-elect and the new Congress were the focus of a group of like-minded industry representatives including NAEGA Director of Operations Ryan Olson on Friday, December 16.

During the meeting, Mr. Ramos expressed the Mexican Government’s interest in upgrading and enhancing cross border trade between Mexico, Canada and the U.S. through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Mr. Ramos pointed to the opportunity to enhance sanitary and phytosanitary rules for cross border trade in any discussions between the NAFTA parties.  

The NAEGA supported concept of a Rapid Response Mechanism that was in-part successfully negotiated TTP is a good fit to upgrade to trade policy to better address plant health protection as well as many other non-tariff trade barriers. Advocating for the RRM will be a center piece of NAEGA efforts related to the U.S government transition.

U.S. Sues China over Corn, Rice and Wheat Practices

On Wednesday, December 15 the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced its intention to file a case at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against Chinese wheat, corn and rice trade practices. The suit alleges that Chinese tariff-rate quotas (TRQ) for these commodities fail to uphold the country’s obligations under WTO rules. According to USTR, China lacks transparency in the rules for importing commodity grains resulting in underutilization of the TRQs for corn, wheat and rice. USTR estimates that full utilization of the TRQs would have allowed nearly $3.5 billion of imports into China in 2015.

More information on the USTR’s actions against China can be found here.

Sri Lanka Import Duty on U.S. Soybean Meal

On November 10, the Sri Lankan government is enforcing a 5 percent duty on all imported U.S. soybean meal. Prior to enforcement of the duty, U.S. soybean meal was imported into Sri Lanka at zero duty under an exemption for ingredients used to manufacture poultry feed. The new duty does not apply to Indian meal because Sri Lanka and India share a free trade agreement.

DBTG Executive Committee Meeting

On January 11-12, 2017 NAEGA Senior Advisor Jerry Cotter will travel to Gijon, Spain to participate in a meeting of the Dry Bulk Terminal Group’s (DBTG) Executive Committee meeting. A copy of the provisional agenda for the meeting will be available soon. NAEGA, under its MOU with the DBTG, sits on the Executive Committee and engages with the group and its sister organization, the International Bulk Terminal Association (IBTA) on issues relating to international maritime safety and regulation.

A Notice to Post for this upcoming travel will be available soon. Please contact Gary or Ryan if you have any questions.

NAEGA-APPAMEX Forum

On October 1-8 IGTC Acting Secretariat Katy Lee travelled to Washington, D.C. where she was joined by NAEGA Director of Operations Ryan Olson for further travel to Cancun, Mexico. The trip report on these NAEGA and IGTC activities is now available. In Washington, Katy held a stakeholder briefing and met on IGTC policy files with D.C. based stakeholders. In Cancun, Ryan and Katy represented NAEGA and IGTC at the NAEGA-APPAMEX Forum and co-hosted a policy briefing entitled “Exclusive Section on Bulk Grain Trade Issues: Update on Commercial and Official Policies and Practices.”

A copy of the trip report can be found here.

NAFTA TWG on Pesticides

On October 25-26 NAEGA President and CEO Gary Martin travelled to Quebec City, Quebec for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Technical Working Group (TWG) on Pesticides. The report on this NAEGA travel is now available. In Quebec City, CropLife Canada invited Gary to represent NAEGA and the IGTC at the meetings. Gary presented before the group on “A Global View of Key Dynamics in Policy and Commerce for Grains, Oilseeds and other Agri-Bulks” and emphasized that close coordination on MRLs is vital for the efficient and sustainable provision of grains, oilseeds and other agri-bulk commodities.

A copy of the trip report can be found here.

China Decree 177 – US Response

Over the last few months NAEGA has been working closely with industry and government stakeholders, including the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS), the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and the U.S. Grain Inspectors, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) regarding Chinese facility registration requirements under Decree 177.

In October, USDA FAS sent a letter and a copy of the GIPSA list of registered U.S. grain export facilities to Chinese counterparts at the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ). The letter, and registration list, seeks to comply with AQSIQ requests for registration of U.S. facilities exporting to the Chinese market as laid out in Decree 177. The list of GIPSA registered facilities includes all grain export facilities that handle more than 15,000 metric tons of grain in a given calendar year.

Last week, USDA FAS received a response to this letter. A copy of the response can be found here. In the response, ASQIQ has again reiterated that U.S. facilities shipping to China register and provide basic information according to the AQSIQ format of “List of Grain Exporting Facilities for Registration.” In addition, AQSIQ has requested that, per Decree 177, all U.S. facilities exporting to China must register with AQSIQ, including facilities that export less than 15,000 metric tons in a calendar year. In short, the GIPSA registration list is not an acceptable form of registration for U.S. facilities shipping to China.

In light of this rejection of the GIPSA export facility registration list, NAEGA will be participating in further discussions with USDA FAS and other industry and government stakeholders regarding U.S. industry compliance with Decree 177. The first follow up meeting is planned for this week.

NAEGA will have additional information for members following this meeting, and will keep members informed of any new information as it becomes available. Please contact Gary or Ryan if you have any questions.

Annual Member and Board of Directors Meeting – March 19-21, 2017

Please make your plans and reserve your hotel rooms now for the 2017 NAEGA Annual Member, Board of Directors and Committee meetings on March 19-21, 2017 at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Hotel room blocks are now available at the Sheraton by clicking here. Please book your room as soon as possible to guarantee a space.

All NAEGA member personnel are invited to attend and participate in all NAEGA meetings. A preliminary schedule of events is available below:

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NAEGA Committee members should also consider making plans to attend their Committee meetings on March 19-21. The following Committee events have been scheduled, including Joint meetings with NGFA Committees:

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Agenda’s for the NAEGA Annual Member, Board and Committee Meetings will be distributed in the coming days.

Once again, this year’s Annual Meetings will take place alongside the NGFA Annual Convention. The NGFA Convention schedule can be found here. NGFA is offering NAEGA members a special rate of $275 per person and $200 per spouse to attend the NGFA Convention. This special rate includes the CoBank Welcome reception on Sunday, March 19 and all events on Monday, March 20, including the Grand Opening breakfast and the Bunge North America Reception. A special registration code will soon be available for NAEGA members interested in taking advantage of this offer.

Final ePhyto Project Document

The International Plant Protection Convention’s (IPPC) ePhtyo Hub project continues to move forward, as stakeholders meet key deadlines. This week, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Trade Organization’s Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) finalized and approved the ePhyto Hub Project and set an implementation date of December 15, 2016. Meanwhile, the United Nations International Computing Center (UNICC), which will host the hub in its Geneva facility, is finalizing the generic ePhyto national system (GeNS) requirement documents to comply with receiving U.S. government funding and proceeding with development of the hub. Lastly, IPPC Steering Groups and Committee are making progress overcoming the technical aspects of implementing the hub, including harmonizing codes and supporting country implementation. Progress will continue in the coming months as the project moves forward.

More information and project documents on the ePhyto Hub can be found here.