MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian beef stranded in Chinese ports triggers a Lula phone call to Xi

According to Lula, Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro, informed him that “70,000 tons of meat are stuck inside containers at Chinese ports.”

Since some 70,000 tons of Brazilian beef are stranded at Chinese ports awaiting an official clearance resolution from Beijing since the identification of an atypical case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), known as “mad cow disease” in Brazil, President Lula da Silva revealed he contacted his counterpart Xi Jinping on Juke 6, to try and overcome the situation.

The Brazilian leader during an event in the northeastern state of Bahía mentioned he had phoned the Chinese leader to attempt to solve the issue. Brazil suspended beef production for China after the BSE case was reported on February 23, but the produce that had already been cleared for export to the Asian giant continued to be shipped at the risk of being denied access to Chinese territory, which eventually happened.

A month later, on March 23, China agreed to resume beef exports from Brazil. The economic powerhouse accounted for over 60% of Brazilian beef exports in 2022.

Shipments resumed after the embargo was lifted. However, this did not resolve the situation for the cargo loads that were shipped during the embargo period. The cargo that left Brazilian ports after March 23 encountered no issues.

According to Lula, the Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro, informed him that “70,000 tons of meat are stuck inside containers at Chinese ports.” During an agricultural fair in Bahia, the president revealed that Fávaro told him the products were in effect shipped “at the wrong time”.

“Right or wrong, we have the Atlantic Ocean full of containers loaded with Brazilian meat. So I had to pick up the phone and call President Xi Jinping,” said Lula. The 70,000 tons reportedly in containers awaiting Beijing clearance is a significant volume considering Brazilian monthly exports. For example during May, Brazil exported some 170,000 tons of beef to various countries, marking a 16,000-ton increase in total exports compared to the same month in 2022.

But since Brazil and China have a sanitary protocol which stipulates that exports should be halted in the event of BSE, Brazil effectively complied, but the problem centers on the fact that this does not appl to shipments cleared before the embargo start date.

“That’s exactly what happened. On the announcement date, February 23, production for China ceased. From that point onward, the Ministry of Agriculture stopped clearing goods for export. However, a certain quantity was produced before February 23 but shipped afterward,” indicate reports from the industry.

”However China believes that Brazil did not comply the agreement by continuing to ship, but the agreement pertains to production, not shipment,” pointed out the industry.

A similar deadlock occurred in 2021 when two atypical cases of BSE were reported in Brazil, resulting in a temporary export embargo to China. Eventually, Chinese customs authorities accepted the shipments following measures the Brazilian government took. At that time, around 100,000 tons of beef were involved and halted.

“The Ministry of Agriculture and the government, in general, are actively engaged to demonstrate from a technical point of view that there is no justification for barring this meat,” industry is hopeful.

Lygia Pimentel, director of Agrifatto consultancy, confirmed that the volume stranded at Chinese ports ranges between 40,000 and 70,000 tons.

“It is difficult to ascertain the precise amount still awaiting clearance and what has already been returned or redirected,” Pimentel noted, considering that some of the cargo may have been redirected to other countries.

Ms Pimentel further affirmed that the affected shipments remain stranded, while the Chinese authorities insist they will not accept these b