Purchases of meat from Brazil by China increased again in November, and are now worth 58% of the South American country´s meat exports, the Brazilian Meat Producers Association (Abrafrigo) said.
According to Abrafrigo´s survey, based on data from the Ministry of Economy´s Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex), revenue of total external sales of Brazilian meat grew 15% compared to November 2019, to USD 844.8 million. Since January, exporters’ revenues increased 14%, from USD 6.8 billion to USD 7.7 billion.
China imported 123,000 tonnes in November alone, according to the organization, and the Chinese market has solidified its position as the major importer of Brazilian beef.
According to Abrafrigo, China imported 57.9% of total Brazilian beef sales so far, versus 43.2% in 2019, well ahead of the second biggest buyer, Egypt.
Sales to China have increased despite the occasional banning of exporting to some Brazilian meat producing facilities, due to suspected Covid-19 cases.
On Monday, health authorities in the city of Wuhan said it had again found traces of the new coronavirus in packages of frozen products imported from Brazil and Uruguay.
According to the authorities, the traces of the coronavirus were found in packages of frozen Brazilian pork from a batch that entered the city of Shanghai on June 28 and was transported to Wuhan the following month.
Packaging on a batch of frozen pork imported from Brazil which had entered a district in Eastern China’s Shandong province revealed traces of the new coronavirus last month, the local government said.
