The Chinese government will introduce "country-specific quotas and additional tariffs" from tomorrow (January 1) on imports of beef.

According to China's Ministry of Commerce increases in imported beef have "severely damaged" China's domestic industry.

Officials had previously launched a "safeguard investigation" on imports of beef into China back in December 2024. 

The Ministry of Commerce today (Wednesday, December 31) said investigating authorities had examined whether the volume of imported beef had increased and whether this had damaged domestic industries and the extent of any damage.

Authories concluded that there had been an increase in imported beef and this had seriously damaged China's domestic industry.

The investigation covered all fresh, chilled, or frozen and bone-in and boneless beef.

Officials indicated that beef imports had grown from an average of about 62,000t per year (2014–2018) to about 231,000t per year (2019–2023).

Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Australia, New Zealand were identified as major exporters of beef to China.

China’s Ministry of Commerce's decision on the safeguard investigation also contained references to Ireland because Irish beef came under the scope of the investigation.

It also references ABP (Ireland) because the company made oral and written submissions to Chinese authorities during the course of their investigations.

Beef imports

Following the conclusion of the investigation, the Ministry of Commerce has now decided to implement safeguard measures on imported beef in the form of "country-specific tariff-rate quotas and additional tariffs on quantities above those quotas" for a period of three years from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2028.

The ministry stated that once the quota is reached, additional imports above the quota will face an extra 55% tariff on top of the existing tariff.

It also outlined that during the implementation period, the country-specific quotas will increase annually.

But the ministry indicated that the safeguard measures will be gradually relaxed at fixed time intervals during the implementation period,

According to a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce, the safeguard measures on imports are intended to help domestic industries overcome difficulties in a phased manner and not to restrict normal beef trade.

"China is willing to work with all parties to maintain a healthy and stable international trade environment," the spokesperson stated.