GAIN Reports from Wednesday, May 12, 2021

The following Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) reports were released on Wednesday, May 12, 2021.   Bulgaria: Bulgaria Makes Progress Recovering from ASF In late April, the Government of Bulgaria (GOB) informed that most large commercial hog farms were once again eligible to ship pork meat to other European Union (EU) markets. The announcement followed the European Commission's (EC) decision to lift Bulgarian African swine fever (ASF) restrictions for live swine and pork from 20 municipalities in 14 regions. Persistent industry efforts to recover from ASF resulted in significant growth in Bulgaria's hog inventory in early 2021.   Macau: Food Service - Hotel Restaurant Institutional Macau's foodservice sector sales reached $1.53 billion and fast growth food imports included distilled spirits, spices, meats, fresh fruit, food preparations, poultry meat, coffee, tea, and confectionery products. COVID-19 has adversely affected Macau's economic growth and food demand. Throughout 2020 the Macau government launched stimulus measures to help Macau residents and businesses cope with the economic adversity, which has helped outlets remain open as Macau's economy is already picking up in 2021 as the coronavirus situation improves.   Macau: Retail Foods In 2020, Macau's retail food sector sales rose 4.1 percent to $644 million, and fast growth food imports included distilled spirits, spices, pet food, meats, fresh fruit, food preparations, poultry meat, coffee, tea, and confectionery products. COVID-19 has adversely affected Macau's economic growth and food demand. Throughout 2020, the Macau government launched stimulus measures to help Macau residents and businesses cope with the economic adversity, which has helped outlets remain open as Macau's economy is already picking up in 2021 and the coronavirus situation improves.   Nicaragua: Sugar Annual The Nicaraguan sugar industry estimates that sugarcane production in MY2021/2022 will exceed 7.1 million metric tons (MMT) which would be a two percent increase from MY 2020/2021. The expected increase in production is due to an expansion of 1,000 hectares of area planted spurred on by the increase of up to 25 percent in international sugar prices in 2021 compared to the previous year. In MY 2020/2021, three of the four major sugar mills reduced area planted by 4,400 hectares in aggregate, which is equivalent to five percent reduction in area planted. Despite this reduction, sugar cane production totaled 6.9 MMT, only a one percent decrease compared to MY 2019/2020.   Russia: Grain and Feed Annual Wheat production is projected to decrease 9 percent to 77.5 million metric tons (MMT) in marketing year (MY) 2021/22. Decreased wheat production is projected to more than offset increases in corn and barley production of 6 and 7 percent, respectively, to reduce production of major grains by 5 percent to 118 MMT in MY 2021/22. Lower production and export restrictions are projected to largely be partially offset by higher carry-in stocks resulting in a relatively small reduction in grain exports in MY 2021/22. Post projects MY 2020/21 wheat exports at 40 MMT, barley exports at 3.5 MMT, and corn exports at 4.3 MMT.   For more information, or for an archive of all FAS GAIN reports, please visit gain.fas.usda.gov/.     Update your subscriptions, modify your password or email address, or stop subscriptions at any time on your Subscriber Preferences Page. You will need to use your email address to log in. If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please visit subscriberhelp.govdelivery.com. This service is provided to you at no charge by USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. This email was sent to NACHOSRSSFEEDSBLOG.semillas@BLOGGER.COM using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service · 1400 Independence Avenue, SW · Washington, DC 20250