China imposes quotas on beef and affects Brazilian exports

China announced, this Wednesday (31), the implementation of annual quotas for the import of beef from foreign countries, as a way to protect its domestic production chain. The new rule will take effect from January 1, 2026, and will have an initial duration of three years, until December 2028. According to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, the total import quota in 2026 will be 2.7 million tons—a volume lower than that recorded in the first 11 months of 2025 and below the historical record of 2.87 million tons purchased in 2024. It is expected that this ceiling will gradually increase in subsequent years. Brazil will have the largest share of the quota in 2026, with 1.1 million tons authorized. However, this number represents a 27% drop compared to the volume exported to the Asian country until November 2025, which totaled 1.52 million tons, according to data from the Brazilian Association of Meat Exporting Industries (Abiec). In addition to the quotas, the Chinese government ...