China will impose 55% additional tariffs to imports of beef coming from countries like Brazil, Australia and the United States when shipments exceed certain quotas, a hard blow for the main global suppliers while the national sector faces an oversupply.
China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday that the total quota for 2026 is 2.7 million tons metrics. Brazil has the highest portion assigned, 41.1%, followed by Argentinawith 19.0% and 12.1% for Uruguay.
The ministry allocated a quota of 205,000 metric tons for Australia and 164,000 metric tons for USA.
In 2024, China imported 1.34 million tons of beef from Brazil; 594,567 tons from Argentina; 216,050 tons from Australia; 243,662 tons from Uruguay; 150,514 tons from New Zealand and 138,112 tons from the United States.
China’s measures will take effect on January 1 and will be in effect for three years, with the total quota increasing each year, until reaching 2.8 million tons metrics in 2028.
China made the announcement on Wednesday, after two extensions of his investigation on beef imports that began last December, which, according to authorities, is not directed against any particular country.
Last week, Chinese beef associations pressured the government to impose immediate safeguard measures before the end of the year in order to stabilize market expectations and the livelihoods of national ranchers, state media Global Times reported.
From 2023, the China’s beef farming sector has suffered heavy losses due to various factors, including imports, leading many farmers to cull breeding stock to cut costs, Global Times quoted an industry official as saying.
Last year, China imported record figure of 2.87 million tons beef metrics. In the period from January to November, imports fell 0.3% year-on-year, to 2.59 million tons.
