TAIWAN, March 2, 2004 -- Taiwan is one of the few markets in East Asia to have escaped so far an outbreak of H5N1 highly pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in the poultry industry. Effective control of a concurrent outbreak of H5N2 low pathogenic Avian Influenza (LPAI) on Taiwan has limited the numbers of farms affected and also limited consumer concerns regarding domestic poultry safety. The risk of HPAI continues from migratory birds and the smuggling of poultry and other products from China. FAS/Taipei will continue to monitor the outbreak of AI in Taiwan. On February 24, Taiwan banned the imports of U.S. poultry from the State of Texas due to a case of H5N2 HPAI.

JAPAN, March 2, 2004 -- On February 25, and effective immediately, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) increased the Maximum Residue Level (MRL) for Chlorpyrifos on citrus, among other products, from .3 to 1 ppm, making it the same as the U.S. MRL.

SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO, March 2, 2004 -- This report contains an updated PS&D of MY03 corn planting intentions and a wheat crop update.

ROMANIA, March 2, 2004 -- Romania's domestic consumption of solid wood continues to expand as the country makes efforts to regain some of its traditional export markets for furniture (especially the EU), while the construction sector is one of the most dynamic in the economy. Nonetheless, the country still ships abroad large amounts of low value added products, such as lumber.

COLOMBIA, March 2, 2004 -- The requirement to obtain prior approval from the Ministry of Agriculture and demonstrate local purchases for feed grain and rice imports expired on January 1,2004. The replacement system establishes tariff-rate quotas, with importers receiving lower in-quota duties based on domestic purchases. The out-of-quota duty is the Andean price band duty for yellow corn and grain sorghum (currently 8 percent) and 80 percent for rice. The tariff-rate quota for corn is 1.9 million tons and for paddy rice is 75,118 tons. Total corn imports are expected to reach 2.15 million tons (1.75 million tons from the U.S.) and wheat imports 1.24 million tons (750,000 tons from the U.S.) in the 2003/04 marketing year.