World in brief

RUSSIA

A Russian government website has reported that the country’s agriculture ministry was proposing that the quota for tomato imports from Turkey be increased from 250 000t to 300 000t.

Russia lifted a ban on vegetable imports from Turkey in November 2017, following the easing of tensions between the two countries after Turkey apologised for shooting down a Russian military jet in 2015.

MEXICO

Mexico’s Supreme Court has again postponed the verdict in two pending appeals, following cases brought by members of potato producer organisations in 2019 to ban the importation of potatoes from the US, according to the Sunday Vision.

Judge Alfredo Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena told the complainants that, contrary to what they had indicated, imported potatoes would be subject to phytosanitary measures to prevent the entry of pests into the country.

Mexico currently allowed fresh potatoes from the US to be imported only within a 26km area along the border. The US potato industry has been pushing Mexico to allow fresh US potato imports throughout the entire country.

AMAZON

Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest rose 17% last year, with wildfires, beef production and logging resulting in forested areas approximately the size of El Salvador disappearing.

In 2020, the loss of primary forest reached 2,3 million hectares in the nine countries across which the Amazon stretches. After Brazil, the countries with the highest primary forest loss were Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, a report by the University of Maryland in the US said. – Staff reporter