GAIN Reports from October 19, 2026

\The following GAIN reports were released on October 19, 2026. _______ Indonesia: Indonesia To Delay Halal Certification Deadlines and Revoke Halal Pre-Shipment Inspection Requirements On October 16, 2026, Indonesia's Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs announced that most imported food and beverage products will not need halal certification until October 17, 2028. This two-year extension effectively continues the status quo, whereby only meat and dairy products must be certified halal. Indonesia will also revoke the requirement for halal pre-shipment inspections. In addition, Indonesia will delay its halal logistics requirements, which are not yet finalized, until October 17, 2028. These positive actions protect about $500 million in U.S. agricultural exports. South Korea: KORUS Tariff Rate Quota and Agricultural Safeguard Update This report provides an update on the U.S. - Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) and Agricultural Safeguard (ASG) product fill rates. The September 17 milk powder tariff-rate quota (TRQ) auction allocated 380 metric tons (MT) of the remaining 5,729 MT. The auction for the remaining 4 MT of the natural honey TRQ failed due to insufficient bids. Both ginseng import-rights auctions held this year also failed, and no 2026 ginseng auctions remain. Meanwhile, imports of two additional products are nearing their agricultural safeguard (ASG) trigger levels: worked cereal grains (cereal, groats, worked grains) at 98.04 percent and peanuts (ground nuts) at 70.99 percent. Thailand: Snapshot of Late-September Floods Impact on Agriculture Late-September floods across 26 Thai provinces hit marketing year (MY) 2026/27 main-crop rice just as harvest began. Satellite imagery showed floodwaters receding in the Central Plains between October 4 and 7 but lingering in the East, where rice fields remained under water on October 7. Flooding left more than 3.9 million livestock dead or missing, mostly poultry, and damaged 5,000 fish and shrimp farms in 24 provinces. The government asked exporters to reduce fresh egg shipments to protect domestic supply. The Ministry of Commerce expects the floods to add about 0.1 percentage points to inflation. United Arab Emirates: Retail Foods Annual Despite heightened geopolitical tensions, UAE food retail remained on a strong growth path in 2025. Consumer-oriented food imports reached $17.7 billion, up 9.3 percent, with the United States supplying $1.3 billion (7.3 percent) of the market. Grocery retail sales exceeded $20 billion, growing 6.3 percent, while online grocery grew more than 14 percent to $1.5 billion. Growth was supported by tourism, food security initiatives, stronger supply chain resilience, and new trade agreements. The grocery market is expected to continue expanding in 2026 with retail sales projected to grow by nearly 3 percent and online grocery retail at $1.6 billion. Vietnam: Grain and Feed Quarterly Vietnam's economy posted strong growth in the first nine months of 2026, and the livestock and aquaculture sectors grew steadily. Rising food and feed demand is driving corn and wheat imports higher, while El Niño and trade protection measures in importing countries pushed rice exports lower. For more information, or for an archive of all FAS GAIN reports, please visit www.fas.usda.gov     Update your subscriptions, modify your password or email address, or stop subscriptions at any time on your Subscriber Preferences Page. You will need to use your email address to log in. If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please visit subscriberhelp.govdelivery.com. This service is provided to you at no charge by USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. This email was sent to ooseims.archieves@blogger.com using Granicus Communications Cloud on behalf of: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service · 1400 Independence Avenue, SW · Washington, DC 20250