MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil impatient as China has yet to return to purchase beef

China has become a leading market for Brazilian beef.

Brazil's minister of agriculture and livestock Tereza Cristina has sent a letter to the head of Beijing's Customs office in which she expresses her willingness to discuss the current ban on Brazilian beef exports to China, according to farm media.

The discussions proposals are an attempt by Brazil to normalize trade following over a month of the export ban following two atypical cases of “mad cow”, which had been immediately reported to Chinese authorities and the UN Animal Health Office in Paris, OIE.

The outbreak of the two cases occurred on September 4 in Minas Gerais and Matto Grosso states, and Brazil following a sanitary protocol agreed with China, voluntarily ceased all shipments of beef to the Asian giant.

The protocol anticipates a return to normality once an investigation into the mad cow cases and circumstances is addressed, and the clinical tests done by the OIE in a third country, in this case, Canada. However once the OIE diagnosis declared them as atypical cases with no risk of contagion to herds, the beef trade has remained frozen.

At the end of last month minister, Cristina said she was still waiting for a return of Chinese interest and a reply for an invitation to a technical meeting. Beijing replied they were still analyzing the OIE sanitary reports.

Meantime Brazilian livestock farmers are restless since without the demand from China, cattle prices have tumbled and abattoirs are also pressing to impede the export of live cattle to neighbouring countries, a further attempt to lower prices.