BEIJING: Chinese imports of beef are up 17% to 184,000t compared to the same period in 2014, AHDB, the organization for the English beef and sheep industry says.
Australia continues to be the largest supplier of beef to China, with a 38% share of the market, however it appears that other countries are starting to increase their beef presence in the Chinese market, such as New Zealand, Uruguay and in particular Argentina, it says.
Australian imports are back almost 10%, according to AHDB, at 69,000t and New Zealand is benefiting from a preferential tariff compared to Australia.
In the year to date, AHDB says that shipments from New Zealand up over a third on the year at 32,600t.
It also says that it’s likely that imports from the Kiwi country could rise for the rest of 2015, this on the back of an increase in slaughterings of dairy animals due to poor returns in the dairy sector.
Imports from South America have also showed a strong performance compared to the first half of 2014, it says with imports from Uruguay up 37% and from Argentina up more than three-fold.
Volumes from Canada had been trending upwards until last year, however, AHDB says that since then it would appear product has been diverted to the US, with Chinese imports down over a half compared to the first six months of 2014.
AHDB says that it appears that China has not resumed importing Brazilian beef after a ban imposed in 2012 was lifted last year, prompting fears that Australia and other countries would lose out.
Brazil is not the only country having looked to regain access for its beef and the US came close to getting it in 2014 and Ireland was successful earlier this year, it says while the UK is also looking for access.
This may mean that competition to supply the Chinese market could be much fiercer in the future, AHDB says.
Despite fears of high prices, which raised concerns at the start of last year about beef becoming too expensive for Chinese consumers, AHDB says that demand for imports is clearly still robust.
Unit prices have increased again this year but domestic beef production is unable to keep up with demand as the industry is faced with structural challenges and AHDB says that as a result, it is expected that China’s demand for imported beef will remain strong, in the medium term at least.
Meanwhile, imports of sheepmeat to China fell by almost a quarter in the first half of 2015 this was as increased levels of domestic production and stocks have kept a lid on demand, according to AHDB.
Sheepmeat imports fell by a quarter to 130,700t and volumes from New Zealand it says, the largest supplier of sheepmeat to China, fell by 22% on the year to 85,400t.
