Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2665 actions· ✨ 90 recent

DGFT Notification No. 16/2026-27 (13 May 2026) escalated the export policy for sugar under ITC(HS) codes 1701 14 90 (raw sugar) and 1701 99 90 (white and refined sugar) from "Restricted" to "Prohibited" with immediate effect, covering all three commercial grades. The prohibition runs until 30 September 2026, or until a further Central Government order, whichever is earlier. The measure is a pre-emptive domestic price-stabilisation step ahead of an uncertain 2025-26 sugarcane season; carve-outs preserve EU and US CXL/Tariff-Rate-Quota obligations, Advance Authorisation Scheme exports, government-to-government shipments, and consignments already in the physical export pipeline before 13 May 2026.

Prime Minister Dr Mostafa Madbouly issued Decree No. 503 of 2026 on 25 February 2026, expanding the catalogue of industrial activities eligible for investment incentives under Egypt's Investment Law No. 72/2017 and linking them to Sector A / Sector B geographic classifications. Sector A projects (underserved areas, Upper Egypt, the New Administrative Capital, and economic zones) receive a 50% deduction of investment costs from net taxable profits over seven years, capped at 80% of paid-in capital; Sector B projects (remaining regions) receive a 30% deduction on the same terms. Newly designated priority activities include all automobile and vehicle categories (conventional and electric), electric motors and engines, refrigerator evaporators and compressors, sheet metal for electrical/electronic appliances, pipes and tubes, fruit/vegetable concentrates, and concentrated sulfuric acid. The decree consolidates and supersedes prior incentive decisions issued since 2022, deepening import-substitution and local-content pressure across automotive, electronics, and chemicals supply chains feeding Suez Canal Economic Zone investors and feeder-industry suppliers.

Brazil's federal innovation-financing agency FINEP (Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos), under the MCTI/FNDCT umbrella, published a BRL 300 million (~USD 56.9 million) public call — "Finep Mais Inovação Brasil – Rodada 2 – Cadeias Agroindustriais Sustentáveis" — offering non-repayable economic-subsidy grants for private-sector research, development and innovation projects in sustainable and digital agro-industrial chains, covering food innovation, food and nutritional security, agricultural productivity, and technical textiles. Applicant companies must be Brazilian and may partner with Scientific, Technological and Innovation Institutions (ICTs). Proposals are accepted on a continuous-flow basis until 2026-09-30 18:00 (Brasília time), or earlier if the budget is exhausted.

The Chongqing Municipal Government General Office issued Notice 渝府办发〔2026〕5号 on 2026-02-04, promulgating a "New Ten-Point Policy Supporting High-Quality Development of the Food and Agricultural Product Processing Industry," effective through 2028-12-31. The package includes up to CNY 200 million in funding for enterprises that establish national-level modern agricultural industrial parks or advantaged industrial clusters, directs 60%+ of fiscal steady-state assistance funds toward seven priority processing sub-sectors (grains/oils, meat/eggs/dairy, fruit/ vegetables/tea, leisure foods, condiments, hot-pot ingredients, Chinese medicinal materials), and subsidises new enterprise loans at up to 60% of the benchmark LPR (capped at CNY 2 million per enterprise), alongside a guarantee-fee cap of 0.6% for qualifying borrowers. Global Trade Alert flags the interest-subsidy component as the "Red" (most trade-distorting) intervention type.

China's Ministry of Finance, NDRC, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, People's Bank of China and National Financial Regulatory Administration jointly issued Cai Jin [2026] No. 4 on 2026-01-19, establishing a central-fiscal loan interest-subsidy scheme for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) operating in 14 designated industrial-chain and emerging-industry sectors. Eligible loans originated from 2026-01-01 receive a 1.5-percentage-point annual interest subsidy for up to two years, capped at RMB 50 million in principal per enterprise (maximum subsidy RMB 1.5 million per enterprise). The policy is tentatively set to run one year with a possible extension.

On 16 January 2026 the Saudi Council of Ministers, via Cabinet Decision No. 468/1447 (issued 30 December 2025 / 9 Rajab 1447H), published in the Umm Al-Qura Official Gazette four sets of implementing regulations governing the King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), Ras Al-Khair, Jazan, and Cloud Computing & IT Special Economic Zones. The regulations entered into force on 16 April 2026 (90 days after gazette publication) and operationalise the SEZ framework first launched by ECZA in April 2023. Each zone has its own standalone framework but they share a common headline tax package: 5% corporate income tax for up to 20 years, zero VAT on intra-SEZ and SEZ-import flows, customs-duty suspension on qualifying imports, withholding-tax exemption on dividends and approved cross-border payments, and exemption from key provisions of the Saudi Companies Law, Commercial Register Law, and Trade Names Law. KAEC focuses on advanced manufacturing, automotive, consumer goods, ICT and pharmaceuticals; Ras Al-Khair targets shipbuilding, offshore rigs and MRO; Jazan covers food processing, metals conversion and logistics for Africa-bound trade; the Cloud Computing SEZ is a virtual zone (data centres can sit anywhere in KSA, headquarters must be in Riyadh) for cloud and AI-compute workloads. The package is the operational implementation layer for the 2024 Investment Law and a core Vision 2030 FDI-attraction instrument.