After a relatively flat rate in 2013, the US liquid refreshment beverage market grew at its strongest rate in several years, up 2.2 percent in 2014, according to new data from Beverage Marketing Corporation.

USDA has released data outlining the agricultural opportunities of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and how it would help boost agricultural exports for all 50 states.

 Funding will go toward opening a Dairy Processing Technology Center and the expansion of the Moorepark Technology Ltd pilot plant. 

The long-running sugar wars between the US and Mexico appear to be over. The Commerce Department announced the two governments have reached an agreement to suspend the ongoing anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations of sugar from Mexico. Phillip Hayes, a spokesman for the American Sugar Alliance, says the final agreement appears to achieve the group’s goal—stopping the dumping of sugar, subsidized by the Mexican government, into the US market.

The Kellogg Company expects to acquire an 85.93 percent stake in Egyptian biscuit company Bisco Misr.

India surpasses the US in cold storage capacity, while China came in third.

Global coffee and baked-goods chain Dunkin’ Donuts announced plans to expand operations in China where it will develop more than 1,400 new restaurants during the next 20 years as part of a joint venture between Jollibee Worldwide Pte Ltd. and Jasmine Asset Holding Ltd., a subsidiary of RRJ Capital Master Fund II, L.P.

The recent US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade meetings should facilitate the export of products such as Feta and Parmesan cheese to China.

The US dairy industry praised the results of recent meetings with China where officials committed to stronger protections for common food names, including cheese, according to the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA).