Food Imports News

The U.S. trade deficit surged to a record high in 2021 as imports increased sharply amid the restocking of shelves by businesses to meet robust domestic demand.The sharp widening in the trade gap reported by the Commerce Department on Tuesday mostly reflected a shift in spending towards goods from services during the COVID-19 pandemic. With businesses eager to rebuild depleted inventories against the backdrop of stretched global supply chains, the deficit is unlikely to shrink much this year…

Japan's health ministry said on Tuesday it had ordered the suspension of shipments of black rockfish caught off Fukushima prefecture after radiation exceeding an upper limit was detected in a catch late last month.The development comes on the heels of an announcement by Taiwan that it would relax a ban on food imports from Japan put in place after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.The suspension means the targetted fish would not be shipped, regardless of the destination, a ministry official said. (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

A blockade of Sudan's main Red Sea port by a local tribal group and threats of more disruptions have hurt efforts to lift the country out of economic crisis and could push trade flows to another regional route, officials and shipping executives say.Several shipping firms were forced to pause bookings via Port Sudan, the African nation's main international trade gateway that generates vital revenue for the cash-strapped state that is trying to recover from three years of political turmoil.The port…

Makers of Irish whiskey, Belgian chocolate and European coffee brands are scrambling to comply with new Chinese food and beverage regulations, with many fearful their goods will be unable to enter the giant market as a Jan. 1 deadline looms.China's customs authority published new food safety rules in April stipulating all food manufacturing, processing and storage facilities abroad need to be registered by year-end for their goods to access the Chinese market.But detailed procedures explaining how to get the required registration codes were only issued in October…

The Saudi-led coalition has allowed four fuel ships to dock at Yemen’s Red Sea port of Hodeidah, two sources familiar with the matter said, after the Houthi group said it would only agree to a ceasefire proposal if an air and sea blockade were lifted.Four vessels, including two carrying a total of 45,000 tonnes of gas oil, a ship loaded with 5,000 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas and a fourth tanker with 22,700 tonnes of fuel oil have received clearance from the coalition, the sources said.As of Wednesday morning…

A powerful blast in port warehouses near central Beirut storing highly explosive material killed 78 people, injured nearly 4,000 and sent seismic shockwaves that shattered windows, smashed masonry and shook the ground across the Lebanese capital.Officials said they expected the death toll to rise further after Tuesday's blast as emergency workers dug through rubble to rescue people and remove the dead. It was the most powerful explosion in years in Beirut, which is already reeling from an economic crisis and a surge in coronavirus infections.President Michel Aoun said that 2…

The world has radically changed since towboat captain Terry Hall boarded his vessel late last month in Wood River, Illinois, for his four-week shift hauling bargeloads of crude oil, chemicals, scrap metal and other goods up and down the Mississippi River.His employer, Canal Barge Co, has beefed up pre-board health screenings for all crew to include a temperature check and disclosures about recent travel and personal interactions in response to the coronavirus pandemic.Any disruption…

Saudi Arabia said on Thursday it was installing four cranes at three ports in Yemen to help boost humanitarian aid deliveries and was ready to assist with installing cranes at the key port of Hodeidah once it was under control of a neutral party. The Saudi mission to the United Nations said in a statement that the cranes were being installed at the ports of Aden, Mukalla and Al-Mokha - which are all under the control of a Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen. The coalition has said it was determined to help Yemen's government retake all areas of the country held by Houthi militia, including Hodeidah port, and would ensure alternative entry routes for badly needed food and medicine.

Maersk can no longer transport goods in or out of Qatar after Arab countries imposed restrictions on trade with the tiny Gulf state and the company is looking at alternative shipping routes. Shipping lines normally transship cargoes from the United Arab Emirates port of Jebel Ali to Qatar, which relies heavily on imports by sea and land. "We expect disruptions to our Qatar services. The situation is very fluid," the spokesman said, adding that Maersk would notify customers about alternative options as soon as possible. The spokesman said the company, which is the world's biggest container shipping line, was looking at other routes such as Oman.

United Nations and Russian officials warned on Tuesday against any attack by Saudi-led coalition forces on the Houthi-held Yemeni port of Hodeidah, the aid lifeline for a country where millions of people are in desperate need of food. The warring factions must ensure deliveries of food and medical aid to starving people, senior U.N. officials said at a donor conference in Geneva. Nearly $1.1 billion has now been pledged towards a United Nations appeal of $2.1 billion for Yemen this year, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced, calling it a "remarkable success". "Across Yemen, hunger and malnutrition have reached unprecedented levels and the threat of famine looms large.

Venezuelan state agencies have run up close to $1 billion in debts with shipping firms due to delays in returning containers, potentially boosting the cost of importing staple goods as the country struggles with product shortages and an economic crisis. The agencies have held containers for months or simply never returned them, at times leaving the truck-sized steel boxes for years in oil industry facilities or on provincial farms even though this costs $100 per day per container, according to industry sources. The debts have piled up over the last six years, coinciding with a steady rise in the role of state agencies in importing goods to Venezuela, particularly food. The country is served by industry giants such as Maersk of Denmark and Hamburg Sud of Germany.

The U.S. trade deficit widened more than expected in February as a rebound in exports was offset by an increase in imports, the latest indication that economic growth remained weak in the first quarter. The Commerce Department said on Tuesday the trade gapincreased 2.6 percent to $47.1 billion. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the trade deficit rising to $46.2 billion in February. When adjusted for inflation, the deficit rose to $63.3 billion, the largest since March last year, from $61.8 billion in January.

Russian grain exporters have resumed deals with Turkish buyers after a short break caused by a deterioration in relations between the two countries, traders and analysts said. Russia, one of the world's largest wheat exporters, and Turkey, one of the biggest buyers of Russian wheat, have been locked in a dispute since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian-Turkish border in late November. For several weeks after that, Russian and Turkish traders held back from signing new contracts, fearing Moscow could suspend grain exports to Turkey or Ankara could curb purchases, the traders and analysts said. But no such measures have been imposed and business has returned to normal, they added.

The APM Terminals Global Terminal Network will enter China’s fastgrowing grain import market as part of a joint venture with Qingdao Port International, continuing APM Terminals’ ongoing expansion into port and terminal operations outside containerised cargo handling. The newly developed Qingdao Port Dongjiakou Multi-Purpose Terminal, in which APM Terminals will hold a 20% share, is located on China’s Bohai Rim in the Shandong province, on the Yellow Sea. The Port of Qingdao is one of the world’s busiest ports,ranking seventh globally handling a total of 468 million metric tons in 2014. Qingdao’s new Dongjiakou Port area is set to become a national hub of Chinese bulk and energy cargos, with a projected volume of more than 300 million metric tons handled annually in this new complex.

The Port of Hamburg Marketing Association has slashed its forecast for container volumes at Hamburg's port, a hub for eastern European trade, due to weakening growth in China and shrinking trade with Russia. The association said on Monday it now expects container volumes to fall 7 percent to 9 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit containers) this year, compared with a previous forecast for 3 percent growth to 10 million TEUs. China is by far the biggest trade partner for the Hamburg port, accounting for almost 3 million TEUs in 2014. Russia is the second biggest with 0.66 million TEUs in 2014. In the first half of 2015, container volume at Hamburg's port, where logistics firms such as HHLA, Eurogate and Buss operate terminals, fell 7 percent to 4.5 million TEUs.

With violent conflicts and fighting continue at most Yemeni ports, shipping lines are pulling away from the country that’s devolved into chaos in past weeks. A report in Reuters, quoting industry sources and ship tracking data, says that at least four oil and natural gas tankers that were headed to Yemen have been diverted as chaos mounts in the country after the launch of Saudi-led air strikes last month. Warships from the Saudi-led coalition have blocked a vessel carrying more than 47,000 tonnes of wheat from entering a Yemeni port, demanding United Nations guarantees that the cargo would not go to military personnel, shipping sources said on Thursday.

Warships from the Saudi-led coalition have blocked a vessel carrying more than 47,000 tonnes of wheat from entering a Yemeni port, demanding United Nations guarantees that the cargo would not go to military personnel, shipping sources said on Thursday. Ocean Marine Services, which acts as the Yemen-based agent for the ship, said in a letter to the director of the Yemeni Red Sea Ports Authority, that the Lycavitos, carrying 47,250 tonnes of wheat, had been stopped from entering al-Saleef port, north of Hodeidah on Wednesday night, on the grounds that all Yemeni ports were off limits to shipping. "As official bodies, we appeal to you to communicate with whoever may be in charge to find a quick solution to the problem…

Clashes erupted in the center of Libya's main eastern city Benghazi on Thursday as pro-government forces pushed to take the port district from Islamist militants, and seven soldiers were killed, witnesses and military officials said. The port, the main gateway for food imports into eastern Libya, has had to close. The fighting mirrors a wider struggle in the oil producing North African state where two governments and parliaments, allied to rival armed groups, are vying for control almost four years after Muammar Gaddafi fell to an armed uprising. Backed by forces led by General Khalifa Haftar, army special forces in mid-October launched an offensive against Islamists in Benghazi, expelling them from the airport area and from several camps the army had lost during the summer.

One sign of change in Iran as it works toward a nuclear deal with world powers is the way it is feeding itself, with private grain firms beginning a slow return to their traditional role as major food commodity importers. Iran was never barred from buying food under sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union over Tehran's nuclear activities. But the measures have made trade more difficult for the past two years by hindering payments and ocean shipping, which has left the bulk of the work in the hands of state buyers such as the GTC and SLAL. However, Tehran has won limited relief from the sanctions after agreeing to curtail its nuclear activities…

Team Niinivirta, a Finnish family-run transportation firm, turned 60 this year, but its third-generation managers now don't know if the business will see Christmas, because of Russia's new ban on European food imports. The firm based in Kotka, on the Gulf of Finland opposite Saint Petersburg, was using its 12 refrigerated trucks to ship 80 loads a month of Finnish milk products to Russia. But the ban on imports of dairy products, fruit, vegetables, meat, and fish from Europe has brought work for Niinivirta and similar specialist local truckers to a near standstill.

Gulf of Oman port bids to become transhipment centre for region; to more than double container capacity by 2017. Part of Oman's drive is to industrialise, diversify beyond oil. An advertisement by the highway outside Dubai's massive Jebel Ali Port tells firms they don't need to ship goods through the Strait of Hormuz, the traditional gateway to the Gulf. Instead they can have goods delivered to a port in Oman, outside the Gulf, and bring them into the region by road. "Why go through the Strait when you can go straight to the Gulf," the billboard reads, in a challenge to Jebel Ali, which has become one of the biggest ports in the world by handling many of the region's imports via Hormuz.

Russia will take counter measures if Washington imposes new sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Saturday. The U.S. Congress has readied new sanctions on Russian weapons companies and investors in the country's high-tech oil projects, but U.S. President Barack Obama has yet to sign a corresponding bill into law. "We will not be able to leave that without an answer," Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Ryabkov as saying. He did not say what form of counter-measure Moscow might take. Relations between Russia and the United States are at their lowest since the Cold War because of Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March and its support for pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Technical problems have delayed the reopening of Libya's eastern Zueitina oil export terminal after the government reached a deal with rebels to end an eight-month blockade of the port, a minister said on Sunday. Two weeks ago, the Tripoli government reached an agreement with rebels in the restive east to end their occupation of four oil ports which had halted vital exports. Under the plan, the Hariga and Zueitina ports were due to open immediately while the larger Ras Lanuf and Es Sider terminals would resume oil exports within a month. But justice minister Salah al-Merghani said Hariga port located in Tobruk in the far east would be the only one to start operations due to technical problems at Zueitina.