September 24, 2007

China and Brazil closer to re-launching bilateral meat trade

The governments of Brazil and China have taken a further step this week towards unblocking sales of meat between the countries, a Brazilian Agriculture Ministry official told local media.

Luis Carlos de Oliveira told Macauhub negotiations centred on the workings of the commission that would be set up to analyze the hygiene restrictions of each country.

Although the meeting did not open up trade, it is a step forward, said Carlos Oliveira, director of the Sanitation department of the International Relations Seretariat.

Information and documents were exchanged and we defined the scope of the bilateral working group, he said.

Safety aspects of the sale of both Chinese and Brazilian beef, pork and poultry were also discussed.

Oliveira said if the Brazilian market is keen on exporting to China, it would have to be open towards imports.

Celio Porto, secretary of International Relations for the Agriculture Ministry expects more progress in November, when a Brazilian delegation would visit China.

A concrete agreement would likely be reached during the first quarter of 2008, when the Chinese-Brazilian High Level Commission for Coordination (Cosban), headed by the vice-presidents of both countries, meets in Brazil.