Major soyabean growers in China are expected to expand their plantings by 10% this year from last year’s 3.6M ha in order to rapidly increase domestic supply while cutting the country’s dependence on imports, reports Xinhuanet.

The USA is revising its rules on the import, transport and release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in its first comprehensive revision of these regulations since they were established in 1987.

Crop protection and biotech seed producer Corteva Agriscience, one of three businesses spun off from the mega US$130bn DowDuPont merger in 2017, began trading as a separate stock on 3 June.

EU law enforcement agency Europol has seized 150,000 litres of fraudulent olive oil and arrested 20 people in a joint operation with the Italian NAS Carabinieri and the Tribunal of Darmstadt in Germany.

US agribusiness giant Monsanto has been fined US$10.2M for using a banned pesticide on corn seed and research crops in Maui, Hawaii, Courthouse News wrote on 21 November.

Indonesian palm oil exports fell in August as Indian traders reduced shipments due to high import duties, Reuters reported on 17 October.

Indonesia has told some retailers in Jakarta to remove food products with “palm oil-free” labels from their shops as the government seeks to protect its key export, Reuters reports.

Germany is planning to ban the use of glyphosate weedkiller by 2023 to preserve insects crucial for ecosystems and pollinating food crops, AFP reports.

Italian olive oil producers could lose up to US$200M/year if US tariffs on EU olive oil imports are approved, the Italian Association of the Olive Oil Industry (Assitol) warns.

German chemical company BASF, personal care manufacturer The Estée Lauder Companies and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) are partnering with the civil society organisation Solidaridad to launch a sustainability project for palm oil and palm derivatives production in Lampung, Indonesia.

Yum China Holdings has become the first restaurant company in China to achieve International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) for its used cooking oil, to be used for biodiesel production, the company announced on 13 May.

The American Soybean Association (ASA) said on 16 April that it was disappointed the EU had voted to move forward in negotiating an EU-US Free Trade Agreement that excluded agriculture.

Researchers at the US Montana State University (MSU) are exploring ways to utilise a recently discovered algae strain to produce biodiesel more cheaply, Biofuels International reported on 15 February.