Brazil and Australia lobby China to let them ship more beef, sources say

Brazil and Australia, the world’s biggest beef exporters, are ‌asking Beijing to allow them to send more meat to China, people familiar with the matter said, as both nations come close to exhausting their 2026 beef quotas and having to halt shipments.

China is the biggest beef importer, absorbing meat worth nearly $3 billion from Brazil and nearly $1 billion from Australia ​in the first quarter of this year, its trade data show.

But its quota system, introduced last December to protect its ​domestic industry, will impose a 55% tariff on shipments from both countries as soon as next ⁠month if the current pace of shipments continues, effectively blocking trade.

LOBBYING FOR MORE ACCESS

Brazilian Agriculture Minister André de Paula and Australian Trade ​Minister Don Farrell are both in China this week and using their time with Chinese officials to argue for increased quotas, ​according to seven sources briefed on the discussions.

Brazil and Australia want China to reallocate other nations’ unused export quotas to them, some of the sources said.

By the end of March, rival supplier Argentina had used 27.5%, Uruguay 15% and New Zealand 14% of their export quotas, Chinese government data ​show.

Australian officials have also discussed with China exempting bones and chilled meat from the quota, which would allow an increase ​in overall shipments, said two people familiar with the discussions.

China’s commerce ministry and customs department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Brazil’s embassy ‌in ⁠Beijing did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Australia’s trade ministry, responding to a request for comment, pointed to a May 18 statement by Farrell saying he would meet Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao. “Australia has always been an advocate of free and fair trade,” the statement said.

PREVIOUS EFFORTS, UNCERTAIN OUTCOME

Brazil and Australia have both pushed for changes during previous meetings ​with Chinese officials, sources said.

“They’ll keep ​trying this time, but ⁠China will probably reject it again,” Isabel Nepstad, CEO of BellaTerra Consulting in Shanghai, which helps companies including Brazilian beef producers do business in China, said of Brazil’s lobbying effort.

Many Chinese beef ​businesses have been unprofitable in recent years. Brazilian beef often competes directly with local products while Australia ​tends to ship ⁠more premium cuts that are less widely produced in China.

Brazil could lose up to $3 billion in export revenue this year if its quota is not changed, Brazilian beef lobby group Abrafrigo said this month.

Australia may be better off, redirecting flows to Japan, South Korea and ⁠the United ​States, analysts said.

After U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to China last week, ​Beijing reopened its market to U.S. producers, which may make it less likely to expand quotas to other countries, said Matt Dalgleish at Australian consultants Episode 3.

Source: Reuters

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