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agriculture | farmers | food

S Korean island urges US negotiators to remove oranges from FTA
24-Oct-2006 Asia Pulse
As the host of ongoing free trade talks with the United States, the South Korean island of Jeju appealed on Monday for Washington’s negotiators to exclude oranges from a bilateral trade pact that is being planned.
Dole Fresh Flowers’ cuts hit small Ecuadorean town hard
19-Oct-2006 Miami Herald
In many ways, the flower industry in Ecuador put this small town on the map. Now, just as quickly, it may be erasing it.
Sugar quotas scupper Salvadoran FTA
19-Oct-2006 Taipei Times
Failure to agree on sugar quotas yesterday prompted Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian to delay the signing of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with El Salvador, saying that the two countries must first iron out their differences.
S. Korean farmers, activists plan anti-FTA protests next week
16-Oct-2006 Asia Pulse
More than 3,000 South Korean farmers and activists plan to hold peaceful demonstrations next week to protest against a fourth round of free trade talks with the United States, organizers said Monday.
El Salvador-US: Free trade deal a menace to local producers
13-Oct-2006 IPS
Seven months after the Central American free trade treaty with the United States came into effect, small-scale producers and economists in El Salvador say that it only benefits a few sectors of society, to the detriment of most national production and thousands of jobs.
Rice could doom US-Korea trade deal: source
8-Oct-2006 Reuters
A proposed free-trade deal between the United States and South Korea would probably be doomed if Washington succeeds in putting rice on the negotiating table, according to a source familiar with the subject.
US and Panama making progress on trade deal: USTR
7-Oct-2006
The United States and Panama are making "good" progress toward a bilateral trade deal, Washington’s chief agricultural negotiator said on Thursday.
Playing our own game
4-Oct-2006
Sripai Noonsee was in despair after her latest attempt to find a job at an electronics factory at Bang Kadee Industrial Estate ended in failure like so many others. She has been jobless for many months.
US beef to be on sale after Chusok
4-Oct-2006
US beef will likely be distributed in Korea’s domestic market soon after the Chusok holidays following the government’s decision to resume imports early September.
Korea seeks to exempt 240 agro products from Canada FTA
3-Oct-2006
Korea is seeking to exclude 240 agricultural products out of a total of 1,452 from the tariff cut proposals exchanged with Canada during the seventh round of free trade agreement talks, the government said yesterday.
Beijing nears the barriers in FTA race
2-Oct-2006
For many farmers in both China and Australia, whose agricultural trade experts were attending a conference last Wednesday, rain is a rarity, so longing looks were cast at the muddy streets and umbrellas outside. The conference, focused on the agricultural issues involved in negotiating a Free Trade Agreement, was held in Xian, the ancient capital of 13 Chinese dynasties and the heartland of Chinese agriculture.
Japan gets serious about trade deal
28-Sep-2006
When the idea of a free trade agreement with Japan was floated four years ago, there was not much enthusiasm in Tokyo.
China refuses to put cards on trade table
28-Sep-2006
Agriculture minister Peter McGauran’s lightning trip to Xian, home of the famed terracotta warriors, yesterday was to open a joint agriculture conference intended to persuade the Chinese that Australian farmers are no threat to their 800 million peasant counterparts, most of whom are barely above the poverty line and who form a potentially volatile force in Chinese politics.
Nothing cropped from agriculture in Australia-China FTA
28-Sep-2006
All agricultural products remain on the table in talks for a free trade agreement with China - which Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran describes as the "single most important thing" anyone can do for Australia’s farming industry.
Japan looks to limit FTA proposal
22-Sep-2006
A proposed free-trade deal between Australia and Japan is looking shaky, with agriculture again the most contentious issue.
Canada Agri-Food Trade Alliance: Comments on free trade negotiations with Korea
18-Sep-2006 Canada Agri-Food Trade Alliance
Canada Agri-Food Trade Alliance Comments on Free Trade Negotiations with Korea, House Standing Committee on International Trade, June 14 2006.
What’s to become of them?
18-Sep-2006 New Straits Times
Some 11,700 tobacco farmers in Malaysia - most of them in Kelantan - will be affected come 2010 when the original Asean members of Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore enact zero tariff rates on virtually all imports.
Workshop discusses competitiveness of Viet Nam’s farm produce in China
18-Sep-2006
Viet Nam’s farm produce are facing challenges in the Chinese market as a result of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (AC-FTA), in particular stronger competition from the products of other ASEAN countries.
U.S. presses Korea to improve ag offer in trade talks
13-Sep-2006
South Korea needs to make a much better offer to open up its agricultural sector to U.S. imports in talks aimed at reaching a free trade agreement by the end of the year, a U.S. trade official said on Monday.
Farmers losing out in free trade mart
13-Sep-2006 New Straits Times
Foreign food products are making their way into the country under the Free Trade Agreements and market liberalisation, while Malaysian products are struggling to penetrate foreign markets.