BUENOS AIRES – Argentina temporarily suspended exports to China of six meat packing plants after cases of new coronavirus were discovered among its employees, the president of Argentine food protection and quality law Senasa said Wednesday.
China, the South American country’s top beef destination, has taken strong action against meat imports amid considerations of COVID-19 infections, which is affecting countries in the region, primary food manufacturers Argentina and Brazil.
Senasa leader Carlos Alberto Paz said the suspension came after Beijing asked the Argentine government to offer security promises to the industry amid the pandemic.
“They are exporting temporarily,” Paz said on the sidelines of an occasion in Buenos Aires, referring to the six of the 88 factories authorized to export to China.
“As soon as the plants are re-exported, we’ll give them the soft green again.”
According to Argentina’s Ministry of Agriculture, 76% of the 328,170 tonnes of beef sent from the country between January and May went to China. In 2019, Argentina exported about 634,000 tons of beef to China.
“They (China) asked us what promises we could make to protect them from the products that matter and we gave them the promises,” Paz added.
Argentina has 106,910 cases of COVID-19, with almost 2,000 deaths. The vast majority of cases have occurred in and around Buenos Aires, where many of the country’s meat processing plants are located.
Argentina’s urban centres have been blocked in opposition to the coronavirus since 20 March. The economy is expected to shrink by 12% this year, analysts say. (Reporting through Hugh Bronstein and Maximilian Heath; writing through Adam Jourdan; edited through Chizu Nomiyama and Richard Chang)
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