Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 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.

Minister of Trade Regulation No. 12 of 2026, signed by Trade Minister Budi Santoso and effective on its date of promulgation (29 April 2026), is the fifth amendment to Permendag 23/2023 on Export Policy and Regulation. It introduces a new discretionary authority — distinct from administrative sanctions — for the Director General of Foreign Trade to suspend issuance of, freeze, and revoke Business Licensing in the Export Sector (Perizinan Berusaha di Bidang Ekspor), and to suspend verification / technical-tracing services. Crucially, it institutionalises cross-ministerial initiating authority: other ministries and agencies may formally propose suspension / freezing / revocation, with proposals reviewed in coordination meetings convened under the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs or the Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs. Decisions are issued via INATRADE / SINSW with automated notification to exporters. The stated rationale is protecting national interests, public welfare, government-programme implementation, and presidential directives — operationalised as safeguarding domestic supply of "certain goods" (palm oil, rice, sugar, mineral, and fertiliser categories cited in policy framing).

On 1 May 2026 the trade pillar of the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement (the "Interim Trade Agreement", iTA) entered provisional application between the European Union and the four Mercosur states — Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay — following its publication in the EU Official Journal on 27 February 2026 alongside the broader EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement (EMPA). The iTA covers goods (eliminating duties on more than 90% of bilateral trade over a transition period including immediate cuts on cars, pharmaceuticals, wine and olive oil), services, government procurement at federal and state level, intellectual property (344 EU geographical indications protected), SPS/TBT disciplines, and a sustainability chapter. Mercosur receives tariff-rate quotas on agri-food exports (beef, poultry, sugar, ethanol, honey). Provisional application proceeds pending full ratification of EMPA by the Council, European Parliament and all EU national parliaments and a pending CJEU opinion; only the trade pillar applies provisionally.

Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 2012 of 12 December 2025 sets a temporary quantitative restriction on imports of agricultural seeds (potato, wheat, rye, barley, corn, soybean, rapeseed, sunflower, and sugar beet) from countries Russia classifies as "unfriendly," effective 1 January to 31 December 2026. The total quota is cut to 15,000 tonnes for 2026 (from 18,300 tonnes in 2025), with potato seed receiving the largest single allocation (10,000 tonnes) while wheat, rye, barley, and soybean seed quotas remain at zero — effectively barring those categories from unfriendly-country suppliers. The measure extends a policy first introduced in January 2024 to stimulate domestic Russian plant breeding and seed production.

On 2025-12-08 President Trump and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a one-time USD 12 billion Farmer Bridge Payments package for US row-crop and specialty-crop producers, framed as relief for market disruption, elevated input costs, and export losses tied to "years of failed trade and economic policies." Up to USD 11 billion funds the new Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) Program covering barley, chickpeas, corn, cotton, lentils, oats, peanuts, peas, rice, sorghum, soybeans, wheat, canola, crambe, flax, mustard, rapeseed, safflower, sesame and sunflower; the remaining USD 1 billion is reserved for specialty crops and sugar. USDA published final per-acre payment rates on 2025-12-31 (e.g. rice USD 132.89/acre, cotton USD 117.35, corn USD 44.36, soybeans USD 30.88, wheat USD 39.35), with payments subject to a USD 900,000 AGI cap and a USD 155,000 per-person/entity payment limit, and disbursement targeted by 2026-02-28.

On 10 November 2025 the Mexican government published a decree in the Diario Oficial de la Federación (DOF) modifying the Tarifa de la Ley de los Impuestos Generales de Importación y de Exportación (LIGIE) to raise most-favoured-nation import tariffs on sugar and sugar-derivative products (raw, refined, liquid and invert sugar, and related high-sugar-content goods across roughly eight six-digit tariff subheadings) to between 156% and 210.44% ad valorem, replacing the prior specific-duty regime of USD 0.33–0.39 per kilogram. The decree entered into force 11 November 2025, the day after publication, and applies to imports from WTO members that lack a preferential trade agreement with Mexico. The Secretaría de Economía framed the increase as protection for the domestic sugarcane agro-industry against a national oversupply and falling international reference prices.

The Nordic Investment Bank signed a EUR 50 million, 10-year loan with Kemira Oyj on 17 October 2025 to co-finance construction of a new commercial-scale biomaterials production facility in Finland, with total project cost of roughly EUR 130 million. The plant will manufacture bio-based alpha-glucans using an engineered polysaccharide and plant-sugar technology platform developed with International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) under a partnership dating to 2020, supporting Kemira's push toward EUR 500 million in renewable-material revenue by 2030. Global Trade Alert logs the loan as a "red"-flagged state-linked lending intervention.

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1132 of 3 June 2025 reinstated the ~40 tariff-rate quotas on Ukrainian agricultural products (cereals, poultry/eggs, sugar, tomatoes, mushrooms and other lines) established under the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement/DCFTA, after the temporary Autonomous Trade Measures regulation (EU) 2024/1392 — which had suspended all such quotas and given Ukraine unlimited duty-free access — expired on 5 June 2025 without renewal. The regulation applied from 6 June 2025, with quota volumes pro-rated at 7/12 of the annual amount to cover the remainder of the year (e.g. 5.83 million kg for preserved tomatoes, 291,667 kg each for two preserved-mushroom lines). Imports above the quota ceilings revert to standard Common Customs Tariff duties.

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/778 of 14 April 2025, adopted under Regulation (EU) No 654/2014 (the EU enforcement regulation for international trade rights), reinstates the EU's 2018 and 2020 commercial rebalancing measures against the United States and adds new countermeasures in response to the second Trump administration's 10 February 2025 Section 232 proclamations, which restored a universal 25% tariff on steel imports and raised the aluminium tariff to 25% effective 12 March 2025 (filed as 2025-02-11-us-section-232-steel-aluminum-global-tariff-reinstatement). The combined package targets approximately €26 billion of EU imports from the United States — matching the scope of US measures affecting EU exports — and combines the reinstatement of pre-existing duties on a first tranche of products (steel, aluminium, agricultural goods, motorcycles, and other industrial items originally subject to the 2018 and 2020 lists) with new duties on roughly €18 billion of additional US-origin goods spanning poultry, beef, certain seafood, nuts, eggs, dairy, sugar and vegetables on the agricultural side, and steel, aluminium, textiles, leather, appliances, plastics and wood products on the industrial side. Tariff rates layer onto MFN duties at up to 50% for some products, mirroring the structure of the 2018 measures. On the same day the Commission published Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/786, which suspends application of Articles 2 and 3 of 2025/778 for 90 days, until 14 July 2025, to allow space for bilateral negotiations following the US 9 April 2025 announcement of a 90-day pause on its own reciprocal-tariff regime (2025-04-02-us-trump-reciprocal-tariff-regime). The legal scaffolding therefore exists and is in force, but no duties were collected during the suspension window. This is the first standalone EU rebalancing instrument adopted against the United States in the second Trump administration and the first major use of Reg 654/2014 since the 2018-2020 Section 232 episode.

Decree 38/2025 reduces Argentina's agricultural export duties (retenciones) across all major grains and oilseeds effective January 27, 2025, through June 30, 2025. Soybean duties fall from 33% to 26%, soy products from 31% to 24.5%, wheat/maize/barley/sorghum from 12% to 9.5%, and sunflower seed from 7% to 5.5%; regional-economy commodities including sugar, cotton, and rice receive a permanent zero-duty rate. The measures are designed to accelerate foreign exchange liquidation by improving exporter margins under the Milei administration's macroeconomic stabilisation program, and represent the most market-significant single Argentine agricultural trade action of 2025-Q1.