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More US beef heading to China
An ag economist says China’s recent beef purchases are welcomed news for the US beef industry.
The US Meat Export Federation’s Erin Borror says China has recently booked sales of 1,400 and 1,500 tons of US beef. “It was really encouraging to see two weeks in a row of pretty consistent numbers booked for China,” she says. “Those are the biggest on record since the market reopened.”
She tells Brownfield US beef also received a boost in March as some importers applied for and were granted tariff waivers from the Chinese government. “Which in effect means the US is back to the same tariff level as anyone else that does not have a free trade agreement with China,” she says. “When those tariff exclusions are applied the US is back to that 12 percent MFN rate.”
Borror says preliminary data shows China’s imports of beef for March from the world set a record of 215,000 tons. The previous record was set in December and was 193,000 tons, which was set prior to the coronavirus and Chinese New Year shutdowns.
AUDIO: Erin Borror, US Meat Export Federation
