Colombia expects a boom in beef sales to China, but concerns about sustainability

At the end of October, Colombian President Gustavo Petro traveled to Beijing to sign 12 cooperation instruments with Chinese President Xi Jinping, including a trade protocol that paves the way for exports of Colombian beef to China. According to experts, the country's beef exports to China could reach more than 100,000 tons annually in 2025, more than double the 45,000 tons it exported in total in 2022. This news has been cause for celebration by livestock unions. However, it has also alerted organizations and environmentalists, who fear that an increase in exports could push producers to deforest land to expand their production. Taking into account that in the last three decades more than 3 million hectares have been lost in the Colombian Amazon due to livestock farming alone, it is not a free concern. The Colombia-China agreement A decade ago, Colombia began a slow process to prioritize the export of beef to China. Mario Valencia, Director of International Affairs of the ...