A visit to Brazil by the Chinese president and agricultural minister this week is expected to result in an increased number of Brazilian plants getting approval for exporting fresh beef to China.

The Chinese authorities, which recognised 17 Brazilian regions as free of foot-and-mouth disease in December last year are to decide if they will send a technical mission to inspect the plants, or whether they will recognise the plants based on the equivalence of the current Brazilian system.

Brazil currently has only five plants approved to export fresh beef to China, but is expected to list another 14 plants that would be eligible to export fresh beef to this market. Last year, the country exported 1,068 tonnes of beef to China.

Last week, both governments signed a phytosanitary protocol for Chinese imports of Brazilian thermo processed beef.