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The COVID 19 pandemic in Malaysia saw most government agencies operating at minimum staffing with most working from home throughout 2020 and 2021. This has severely impacted the number of GE events approved by the National Biosafety Board (NBB).

In the current marketing year running from July 2021 to June 2022, Korea’s fresh apple production and consumption are projected to rise by 13 percent after several years of gradual decline.

Since the start of COVID-19, Philippine consumers have incorporated more fresh fruit into their diet. Global exports of fresh fruits to the Philippines increased 36 percent to $695 million in 2020 and are forecast to grow five percent in 2021.

On November 15, 2021, Statistics Korea (KOSTAT) released a revised 2021 rice production estimate of 3.882 million metric tons (MMT), up an additional 1.6 percentage points from the initial rice production estimate in early September and up 10.7 percent from the previous year.

New Zealand is an important market in the Pacific for U.S. agricultural products. In 2020, despite logistical and other challenges as a result of COVID-19, New Zealand’s imports continued strong and included US$ 575 million of U.S. agricultural products.

Korea is in the process of revising its existing Living Modified Organism (LMO) Act to cover products of innovative biotechnologies, including genome edited products.

The State Administration for Market Regulation issued a revised draft of the General Standard for Nut and Seed Food for domestic comment.

Post forecasts higher Burma’s rice export in November in anticipation of active demand from China and EU countries during harvest of the new crop.

There are no significant developments to convey since the previous report from October 2020. Although Burma (also called Myanmar) does not yet have a comprehensive biosafety legislation, the final version of the National Biosafety Framework and Biosafety Guidelines are completed and pending approval.

The Australian federal government is supportive of biotechnology and has committed considerable long-term funding to research and development.

This report provides the latest status of consumption, regulation, public perception, research, development, production, and use of agricultural biotechnology in Japan.

There have been no recent significant official changes to the genetically engineered (GE) policies established by the New Zealand government.