Brazil, China close to signing pork offal export protocols

Brazil is close to finalising protocols for exporting pork offal and fish to China, two people familiar with the matter told on Thursday, in the wake of a historic visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the South American nation.

The agreements were not signed during Xi’s visit as details pertaining to the protocols are still pending, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because talks were private.

The sources said negotiations for both protocols were advanced and should be completed soon. They declined to give a time frame for an announcement.

“It should not take long,” one of the persons said.

The negotiation of the protocols comes amid a trade dispute involving China and European pork suppliers, whom China has accused of dumping.

China’s total pork imports, including offal, totaled about $6 billion in 2023, with Spain accounting for about $1.5 billion.

The Netherlands and Denmark each exported the equivalent of more than $500 million to China, according to Chinese customs data.

“Offal is something that China values ​​highly and Brazil does not have the habit of consuming,” one of the persons said, citing items such as heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, brains and tongue, which are appreciated by Chinese consumers. Finalizing protocols for pork offal exports would be “disruptive” for the Brazilian pork industry, the source said.

Brazil, the fourth-largest global exporter of pork, exported around 1.2 million tons of the meat in 2023, but the volume of offal totaled just over 100,000 metric tons to all destinations, according to official trade data.

Tags: Brazil, fish, offal, protocols, China, export, pork