December 3, 2010
China reopens market for Argentine beef
Beef exports from Argentina to China are due to resume after an interruption that has lasted since 2006, said Argentine agriculture chief during an official visit to Beijing.
Argentina's minister of agriculture, livestock, and fisheries Julián DomÃnguez on Wednesday (Dec 1) signed three new protocols with Zhi Shuping, the minister of China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).
Under the agreements, Argentine beef, as well as dairy products and barley, will be allowed back onto the Chinese market, with beef-related imports from Argentina expected to reach a volume of 5,000 tonnes next year.
The normalisation of beef exports from Argentina is another important breakthrough following the China's recent reopening of soy trade with the South American country.
Relations between the two had been undermined by the Chinese embargo of Argentine soy products, which started on April 1 this year supposedly on safety grounds. The embargo only came to an end in October when Argentina started to secure demand for soy from another key consumer of agricultural commodities, India.
This might have had an impact on China, which was the primary consumer of Argentine soy products until the commercial dispute started. Now, as the demand for meat increases in China, the flow of Argentine beef exports - the world's largest - has restarted.
The normalisation of bilateral trade will serve to cement Argentina-China relations and will help to boost the Argentine economy, especially as China represents the biggest market for agricultural exports from Argentina.
