Mad cow case in Brazil may boost Australian beef sales to China

Australia may prove to be a beneficiary of Brazil’s suspension of beef exports to China as the move could speed track talks to ease Beijing’s restrictions on imports of the meat from the country. 

Brazil, the world’s biggest beef exporter, halted exports Thursday after confirming a case of mad cow disease. It comes amid growing signs of a thaw in trade ties between China and Canberra, following more than two years of curbs on Australian exports from wine and lobster to barley, coal and beef. 

The timing couldn’t be better for Australia because it gives China a concrete reason to re-evaluate curbs on the country’s abattoirs, said Even Pay, associate director at Trivium China, a policy research consultancy in Beijing.

“There’s already been a great deal of speculation that those limits were about to get lifted, and a disruption in supply out of Brazil could help speed up a formal announcement,” she said by email. 

“I think something like this event in Brazil could have the Chinese authorities progressing further along the pathway of getting those Australian abattoirs back,” said Matt Dalgleish, director of Episode3.net, an agriculture analysis company. “It could help quicken the pace of that negotiation.”  

China, which accounts for about 40% of Australian exports, has imposed a raft of measures since 2020, blocking billions of dollars of trade. Australia was the third-biggest beef shipper, trailing Brazil and the US, in 2022, according to Meat and Livestock Australia. It represents 11% of global export trade.