China announced the authorization of 38 Brazilian slaughterhouses to export beef, poultry and pork to the country. It is the largest number of plants authorized at once in history. These include 24 plants producing beef, eight poultry meat and one thermo-processed beef establishment.
The Brazilian government’s projection is that the qualifications will generate an additional BRL 10 billion to the trade balance. In December 2023, Chinese auditors visited 18 Brazilian slaughterhouses for inspection, of which three units were already qualified. In January, another 29 plants were audited via videoconference. Of the 44 companies inspected, 38 received authorization to export. The others were not approved due to lack of some documents, according to the Brazilian media outlet Globo Rural.
Recently, China removed the anti-dumping measure that had been applied since 2019 to Brazilian chicken meat exports. The mechanism surcharged businesses between 17.8% and 34.2% depending on the exporting company.
Possibility of more slaughterhouses
New authorizations for China could occur later this year, according to the Secretary of Commerce and International Relations of the Ministry of Agriculture, Roberto Perosa.
The General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) informed the government in Brasília that it will carry out another in-person audit of Brazilian plants in the second half of this year.
“GACC informed that the focus in 2023 was on the plant area and that this year’s focus is on the animal area. So, the chance to enable more plants exists”, stated Perosa.
The secretary also believes that the current scenario increases the chances of progress in negotiations to establish the “pre-listing” system, an agreement in which supervision by the Brazilian ministry is sufficient to guarantee access to a given market. China only adopts the pre-listing model for the United States currently.
In the current model, Brazilian meatpackers need to adapt and meet China’s criteria to be included on a waiting list, which depends on technical approval from Beijing, generally carried out after in-person or videoconference audits.