China: Livestock and Products Annual
China lifted the longstanding bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)-based ban on U.S. beef imports on September 22, 2016, removing a major obstacle to resuming U.S. beef imports. However, the United States and China must first negotiate the export protocol conditions before exports can resume. Overall, Post forecasts China's 2017 beef imports higher at 950,000 metric tons (MT) as demand continues to grow. Brazil became the top exporting country to China after China lifted a BSE-based ban on Brazilian imports. For swine, China remains the world’s largest pork producer and consumer. A rise in hog and pork prices will stimulate domestic herd recovery and expansion will be initiated in 2017, depressing the import demand. Pork imports are forecast at 2.2 million tons, an 8-percent decrease
compared to 2016.
