Global round-up

22 August 2000



Global round-up

• EU may raise import duties on Russian rape and sunflower seeds
  The European Commission is considering implementing a 7% duty on the import of Russian sunflower and rape seeds.

• GM sweet potato launched in Kenya
  THE Kenya Agricultural Research Institute has launched the first genetically modified sweet potato variety in the country.

• Philippines meat import rules to be simplified further
  THE Philippines Department of Agriculture is further easing its proposed rules governing the shipment of meat imports.

• North Dakota harvests huge canola crop
  CANOLA has quietly spread southward from Canada to the point that it has become a bigger crop than even oil sunflowers in the state of North Dakota.

• Pony owners fear rise in meat trade
  BRITISH beef and pork may be off the foreign menus, but our pony meat has become an international delicacy.

• Just 1% of Polish meat processors make EU cut.
  Only one percent of the 4,000 meat processors in Poland currently comply with EU standards, said Deputy Agriculture Minister Robert Gmyrek.

• Sino-US tractor joint venture starts
  A Sino-US joint venture, sponsored by the Tianjin Tractor Manufacturing Co. Ltd, and American farm machinery maker John Deere, began operation on August 8 in Tianjin in north China.

• Thousands of farm animals slaughtered in Greek foot and mouth epidemic
  Thousands of farm animals slaughtered in Greek foot and mouth epidemic
  Seven thousand farm animals have been slaughtered in the Evros region of northeast Greece since an epidemic of foot and mouth broke out in mid-July, authorities have reported.

• China creates GM virus to kill insect pests
  China plans to use a genetically modified virus to protect crops from harmful insects as an alternative to chemical insecticide, state media has reported.