Chinese supermarkets, consumers seek domestic meat to cut COVID-19 contamination risks

According to China's General Administration of Customs' data, pork and beef imports in November 2020 stood at 330,000 tons, down almost 70% from July 2020, beef imports alone fell 23% to 170,000. The drastic decreased is due to the concerns over the safety of imported cold-chain products, pushing up the demand and prices for domestically produced meat as local customers seek safer alternatives.

For imported products such as seafood, beef, pork and poultry that needs to be treated in cold-chain has repeatedly tested positive for COVID-19, including origins from Brazil, Ecuador, Russia and India. So far, there has only been one domestic meat product tested positive for COVID-19 in December 2020.

According to local media reports, several big restaurants chains and local supermarkets are turning into domestic sources for beef, pork, lamb due to safety concerns.