LatinNews Daily - 04 August 2022

*Uruguay’s foreign ministry has announced that China has agreed on a phytosanitary protocol for the export of sorghum from Uruguay to China, which it said was a “significant step” towards authorising sales of Uruguayan sorghum in the country. “Once signed, the protocol will further strengthen trade and friendship ties between Uruguay and China, based on cooperation, green development, food safety and security, and the welfare of both societies,” reads a foreign ministry statement. China is the biggest importer of sorghum worldwide, with Chinese imports of the grain totalling US$3bn in 2021 according to Uruguay’s foreign ministry. Uruguay’s President Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou announced on 14 July that a feasibility study on a Uruguay-China free trade agreement (FTA) had been successfully completed and that formal negotiations were poised to begin. Uruguay’s decision to seek an FTA with China has caused tension within the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) trade bloc, whose founding treaty requires approval from other members if any country wants to cut deals with third parties.

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