China authorises 25 Brazilian meat facilities for export

The Chinese government has reportedly authorised 25 Brazilian meatpacking plants to export their meat products.

As reported by Reuters citing Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry, out of 25 facilities that have been offered the license to export, 17 will export beef products and six will export chicken products.

One facility will export pork and the other has been authorised to export donkey meat.

The facilities that obtained licenses can commence their export activities immediately.

China is reported to be one of the largest markets for Brazilian meat, including beef, chicken and pork.

The demand for these products is reported to have increased after the outbreak of the African swine fever among China’s pig herds.

According to Brazil’s official statistics, a 48% demand was registered for Brazilian pork products during the first eight months of this year, while beef exports increased by 17% and chicken products exports rose by 37%.

Brazil agriculture ministry trade and foreign relations secretary Orlando Ribeiro said that the government would welcome the decision to permit more facilities to export meat to China.

In June, the Chinese Government agreed to accept beef imports from the UK after lifting a ban that was imposed on beef products in 1996.

The agreement between the two countries is expected to be worth £230m for British producers in the first five years.

The UK-China Beef Protocol agreement was signed by Farming Minister Robert Goodwill and the Chinese Ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming as part of the tenth Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD).