JAPAN, April 26, 2004 -- In 2003, construction of 3-story residential wood-framed buildings grew 29.9% and construction of 3-story wood-framed multi-family units was up 41.1%, from the previous year, totaling 24,803 and 247 buildings, respectively.

FRANCE, April 26, 2004 -- Trade sources estimate the total food service market in France to be worth $62 billion, serving over 9 billion meals per year. Commercial catering (restaurants, hotels and resorts, cafeterias, brasseries, cafes and fast foods) dominates the sector with 72 percent of the market. Institutional catering (education, healthcare, business catering, schools, hospitals, air and sea catering) represents 28 percent of the market. The food service sector is an open, highly competitive market in France offering U.S. suppliers opportunities for a variety of reasonably-priced, high quality and innovative products such as fresh and frozen fish and seafood, bison meat, dressings and seasonings, canned fruits and vegetables, alcoholic beverages including wine, and frozen ethnic/U.S. regional foods.

INDIA, April 26, 2004 -- Post revises 2004 wheat harvest down to 73 million tons due to yield reductions caused by unusually high temperatures during the crop maturation stage. While Post continues to forecast MY 2004/05 exports at 2 million tons, MY 2003/04 exports are revised upward to 6.4 million tons, based on shipping data compiled from private sources.

JAPAN, April 26, 2004 -- The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has targeted 2004 as the year they will develop a certification system to provide consumers with traceability for all agricultural products. The voluntary traceability mark will apply to all products except domestic beef, where it is currently mandatory. Local producers are likely to use the program to differentiate their products from imports. The details of this announcement can be seen in Japan Agrinfo Newsletter (Vol. 21 No. 7 March 2004) available below and on the Japan International Agricultural Council website at http://www.jiac.or.jp/agrinfo/0403_2.htm#12.

JAPAN, April 26, 2004 -- In March 2004, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced that Quality Labeling Standards certain products under the Japanese Agricultural Standard law would be review and possibly revised. This announcement and the product items to be reviewed can be viewed below, or at http://www.maff.go.jp/mud/539.html.

CROATIA, April 26, 2004 -- Croatia recently avised the EU that it would allow the imports of beef from EU countries, like Austria and Finland, that are free of BSE.

CROATIA, April 26, 2004 -- The Croatian Government decided to introduce TRQ with 0% tariff on 150,000MT of corn because cattle breeders complained that high corn prices forced the feed prices to rise too much. The shortage in corn supply caused the Croatian Government first to introduce 30% export tariffs from September 2003 through March 2004 to reduce any outflows. This new 0% TRQ in addition to being of interest to importers, should cause farmers who were holding corn hoping for higher market prices to bring it to market. There could be a possibility for US corn and soybean sales to Croatia this spring.

CROATIA, April 26, 2004 -- Croatia officially announces rigorous food testing on gmo (biotech) substances. This is the result of a big scandal with first gmo food testings and public fear of gmo. The Croatian Government will also speed up the procedure of forming the Food Agency and start adopting all necessary regulations for gmo labeling (Croatia has the Law but on the books but so far no rules or regulations on how to specify or test the labeling procedure see, HR 3019). Croatian Health Minister commented on the situation by saying: "The position of the government is that Croatia must be a GMO-free country and gmo products will not be produced in Croatia. Those imported from abroad must be subject to stringent checks".

EU-15, April 26, 2004 -- The European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) Scientific Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) published on April 19 an opinion concerning the utilization of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGMs) as marker genes in genetically modified plants. In the opinion issued, EFSA categorizes the

MEXICO, April 26, 2004 -- *U.S. EXPORTS OF AGRICULTURAL, FISH AND FORESTRY PRODUCTS TO MEXICO GREW 9 PERCENT TO OVER US$8 BILLION IN 2003 *GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WOULD SUPPORT A SWEETENER DEAL *THERE IS NO AGREEMENT YET: THE U.S. SWEETENER INDUSTRY *BIO-TERROR LAW RAISES TRUCKING COSTS UP TO 30 PERCENT *SOME U.S. MEAT EXPORTERS attempting to SIDESTEP MEXICAN REGULATIONS *PEAR IMPORTS GROW *INIQUITY IN SUBSIDIES ARE CAUSES OF THE IMPOVERISHMENT IN THE COUNTRYSIDE *EVALUATION OF NAFTA'S AGRICULTURAL CHAPTER DISAPPROVED *AGRICULTURAL DEPENDENCY INCREASED *NATIONAL AGREEMENT FOR AGRICULTURE SHOWS MIXED ADVANCES *THE JOINT PUBLIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS A MORATORIUM ON IMPORTS OF TRANSGENIC CORN TO MEXICO *AMCHAM PUTS 2004 INFLATION AT 4.7 PERCENT *MEXICAN TOURISM SECTOR ON THE REBOUND

JAMAICA & DEP, April 26, 2004 -- Jamaica's production of 96-degree sugar is expected to increase to 195,000 MT during 2003/04. Imports of raw and refined sugar are projected at 20,000 MT and 70,000 MT.

EU-15, April 26, 2004 -- Several European importers associations have expressed concern about developments in EU pesticides legislation. They believe that the new rules will create trade disruptions, as some of the pesticides that will be restricted in the EU will still be legal in third countries

JAMAICA & DEP, April 26, 2004 -- Despite declines in real per capita consumption, the non-tourism segment of the Jamaican market continues to present opportunities for the consumption of high-value U.S. agricultural products. The strong recovery of Jamaica's tourism industry during 2003 and the positive outlook for 2004 and 2005 will present increased opportunity for U.S. food and beverages.