By Daphne Zhang and Liz Lee
BEIJING, Sept 30 (Reuters) – China will start collecting an additional 55% tariff on Brazil’s beef shipments on October 1 after the South American country reached its annual quota of 1.1 million metric tons, the commerce ministry said on Wednesday.
• China unveiled the added tariff, applicable to all suppliers, in January to protect its domestic cattle industry.
• The duty adds to the standard import tariff of 12%, taking to 67% Brazil’s total import duty on all shipments surpassing its quota.
• Brazil, the world’s biggest beef exporter, hit its annual quota of 1.1 million tons for shipments to China as of Wednesday, China’s commerce ministry said.
• Uruguay had authorised Brazil to use the surplus from its beef export quota to China, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said last week.
• But industry insiders say China has not agreed to allow Brazil to use Uruguay’s quota this year or the next.
• Even if Brazil directly reached agreement with other countries over unused beef volumes, China was unlikely to agree, the industry sources told Reuters.
• In May, Reuters reported Beijing had rejected Brazil’s repeated lobbying attempts to allow such use.
• China’s commerce ministry has not publicly commented on Brazil’s requests.
• All eyes are on whether China, the largest buyer of Brazilian beef, will renew its beef quota system for 2027 by year-end.
• Brazil’s total beef export volumes are expected to drop 10% in 2026 on the year, industry group Abiec has estimated, amid curbs by Beijing and a similar recent move by the European Union.
(Reporting by Daphne Zhang, Liz Lee, and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Clarence Fernandez and Tom Hogue)
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