China has approved about 25 meat-packing plants in Brazil to market meat into China.
More approvals are anticipated, according to Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro, who recently visited China.
Canada, by contrast, has been cut off from exporting pork to China because it found ractompamine residues in a shipment from a Quebec company, then fraudulent export certificates.
Many in Canada believe it is Chinese pressure tactics to drop extradition proceedings against an Huawei executive the U.S. claims was instrumental in breaking a U.S. ban on exports of sensitive electronic equipment to Iran. The extradition hearings resume in Vancouver in January.
China has also sharply increased pork purchases from United States suppliers as it struggles to dampen soaring pork prices in the wake of the loss of about half of the country’s pigs to African Swine Fever or culling to prevent further spread of the disease.
Brazil is a strange choice for China’s meat inspection approvals because it was hit earlier this year by scandals involving falsification of inspection documents and plant certifications.
