Customs authorities in China have confirmed the country will accept import applications for Brazilian beef that has been granted a sanitary certificate prior to September 4, it has been reported by Reuters.
After halting exports to China in early September, following confirmation of two cases of ‘atypical’ bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) at separate abattoirs, Brazil looks set to resume trading beef with China.
China’s customs authorities said this week that they “will accept import applications for Brazilian beef that has been granted a sanitary certificate prior to September 4, potentially allowing for cargoes of beef stuck at Chinese ports to finally clear customs”, it has been reported.
Brazil had suspended exports of beef to China on September 4, after detecting two cases of atypical BSE.
But meat that was already at ports continued to be exported, with most of it unable to clear customs on arrival in China, the Reuters article outlined.
Customs in China updated its website today (Tuesday, November 23) to say that it was now accepting import applications for beef certified prior to the suspension.
Brazil is China’s top supplier of beef, supplying about 40% of China’s imports, and buyers had initially expected the trade to resume within weeks.
“Since the cases in cattle were announced, Brazil has also reported two cases of a neurodegenerative disorder in people, though agriculture officials said they were not related to beef consumption,” the Reuters article concluded.
According to the World Beef Report (published on September 8) it was believed to be “more than probable” that beef exports to China would resume in “a maximum of 15 days”.
The report drew attention to the precedent of 2019 where an atypical case of BSE was discovered and Brazil was out of that market for a period of 10 days.
Continuing, the report drew attention to speculation in the global marketplace that “China has no way to cover the gap that Brazil would leave”.