US Soybean and Sorghum Exports to China

Beginning in late December 2017 NAEGA Executive Committee and Board of Directors has been extensively engaged in consultation and coordination and has initiated several new actions and delayed or put aside some activity we have discussed previously to address Chinese policies related to grains, oilseeds and other products.  In doing so, NAEGA is working to provide for marketability and competition while defending value, quality and safety of the commodities traded by its Members. Our focus has been, and continues to be, to provide for regulatory and commercial best practices within the parameters of sound science, legal compliance and international convention to provide for the least trade distortion and best environment for all stakeholders. 

Regarding the recent action by USDA to institute an additional declaration conveying Foreign Material percentage for U.S. export shipments of soybeans to China on the phyto-sanitary certificate issued by its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), we continue to be concerned with the resulting and ongoing lack of understanding and predictability on how Chinese authorities will treat imports of U.S. soybeans.  We believe the circumstances result in new and substantial inappropriate disadvantages to U.S. origin soybeans and risk setting bad precedence of other grains and oilseeds. NAEGA is taking a number of actions to engage directly with APHIS and other parts of U.S. government.  For instance, NAEGA has been aggressively communicating our concerns and possible solutions as part of the USDA Systems Approach on Weed Seeds.  Recently USDA provided more details in this effort to help educate farmers, grain handlers and exporters on weed seed management techniques. The systems approach was developed in response to U.S. efforts to reduce the presence of weed seeds in soybean shipments to China. Over the past three months, NAEGA has been working closely with the USDA as part of the U.S. Grain and Oilseed Strategic Working Group to provide input into the systems approach. The approach is outlined here and will be rolled out as an educational tool at USDA attended events throughout the country.

NAEGA is also supporting work by the National Sorghum Producers and the U.S. Grains Council, in coordination with several members, to respond to the self-initiated antidumping and countervailing duty investigation by China’s Ministry of Commerce into U.S. Sorghum exports to China.

NAEGA members interested in providing input or being engaged in this work should contact us immediately. Both matters will be the subject of NAEGA consideration at our meetings on March 19 in Scottsdale, AZ.

Barge Doc Digitization Workshop

Last week NAEGA and NGFA sponsored a successful value assessment workshop on barge document digitization.

The workshop, facilitated by Mark Lewis of Communique, LLP, was an opportunity to engage industry stakeholders and needed experts in a fact and opinion finding mission to examine possibilities for digital solutions to be applied to Mississippi River barge documentation and perhaps lead to proof of concept and business plan development. Thank you to all who joined us in New Orleans!

Now that the workshop has concluded, Communique, LLP will be providing NAEGA and NGFA with a report on the workshop’s proceeding and recommendations for next steps. This report will help inform strategies for moving forward.

IGTC briefing with COCERAL Secretary General

This week IGTC Secretariat Katy Lee met with COCERAL’s new secretary general Iliana Axiotiades and head of policy Kevin Bosc. Following the departure of Teresa Babuscio as COCERAL secretary general and IGTC vice-president, the IGTC secretariat has been working closely with COCERAL staff to brief new leadership on policy files and initiatives.

Food and Ag Dialogue Letter to Lighthizer

On February 8 the Asia-Pacific Market Working Group of the U.S. Food and Agriculture Dialogue for Trade sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Robert Lighthizer supporting the administrations recent comments about reengaging with Trans-Pacific Partnership members in a manner that promotes trade in the Asia-Pacific region. According to the letter the working group “welcomes President Trump’s recent address at the World Economic Forum, in which he stated that the “United States is prepared to negotiate mutually beneficial, bilateral trade agreements with all countries…includ[ing] the countries within TPP [Trans Pacific Partnership]” and that the United States “would consider negotiating with the rest [of the TPP countries] either individually or perhaps as a group if it is in the interests of all.”

You can read the letter here.

IGTC Newsletter

The latest IGTC Newsletter is now available! This week’s newsletter includes a preliminary schedule for the IGTC’s 2018 General Assembly at the end of November in Beijing, China, online presentations from the 3^rd ePhyto Symposium, and a final call to fill out IGTC’s questionnaire on MRLs.

For more details, read the IGTC Newsletter hereor visit the IGTC website at www.igtcglobal.org.

U.S. APHIS Nuseed Comment

On February 9 NAEGA joined the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) and the National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) in a letter to the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service regarding the responsible commercialization of Nuseed event B0050-027. NAEGA, NGFA and NOPA “do not support commercialization prior to export market approvals and consider a “pre-commercial release” no different than a product commercialization, since the potential risks and impacts are the same.” The letter urges “agricultural biotechnology developers to fully bear the risks and liabilities associated with any commercialization of their products should market disruptions occur prior to obtaining approvals in U.S. export markets

You can read the letter here here and the original notice published in the Federal Register here.

NAFTA Chapter 19 Meeting

On Friday, January 19 Ryan joined other agriculture industry stakeholders for a meeting on NAFTA’s Chapter 19 with Victor Mroczka, ‎Director of Trade Remedies, WTO & Multilateral Affairs at the U.S. Trade Representative. During the meeting, agriculture stakeholders discussed the benefits of Chapter 19 to exporters and investors in the North American marketplace. Chapter 19 of NAFTA creates a process for reviewing (challenging) one member’s imposition of anti-dumping (AD) or countervailing duties (CVD) on imports from another NAFTA member. It has provided U.S. food and agriculture exporters with an effective tool to hold AD and CVD investigators and administrators accountable through an appeals process that can overturn egregious AD and CVD investigations and keeps markets open for business. Currently, negotiators from the U.S., Canada and Mexico are considering the future of Chapter 19 in ongoing NAFTA negotiations.

More information on Chapter 19 can be found here.

Brussels IGTC Events Trip Report

A trip report is now available for Gary’s travel to Brussels, Belgium to attend and participate in IGTC outreach events. From December 3-6 Gary attended the European Commission Grains Outlook Seminar, COCERAL’s annual reception, and the International Grains Council’s 46^th Session. He also met with Mr. Arnaud Petit, who will become the executive director of IGC in February 2018.

A copy of the trip report can be read here.

Tokyo Contract Seminar Trip Report

A trip report is now available for NAEGA’s travel to Tokyo, Japan to lead a Contracts and Best Practices Seminar. In Tokyo, Gary, Ryan and Senior Advisor Sam Bonilla educated Japanese industry and government officials on usage of and proposed changes to the NAEGA 2 Model Contract at the Tokai University Club on November 28. Topics included perspectives on the global contracting environment and case studies of commercial topics like arbitration and contract terms. A cocktail reception followed the seminar.

A copy of the trip report can be read here.

IGTC Newsletter

The latest IGTC newsletter is now available! This week’s newsletter includes an update from the IPPC ePhtyo Symposium in Malaysia, a farewell and thank you message to IGTC Vice President Teresa Babuscio, and an update on the IGTC questionnaire on MRLs.

For more details, read the IGTC Newsletter here or visit the IGTC website at www.igtcglobal.org.