Chinese beef and mutton imports in the first half of 2012

According to the customs data monitored by BOABC, China imported 123.73 tons of cold fresh beef from January to June 2012, and 99.77% of imports were from Australia. From January to June 2011, China imported 185.84 tons of cold fresh beef, and the import volume of cold fresh beef decreased year-on-year. 33.42%, the smuggling of beef, the use of imported frozen beef posing as high-end imported cold beef and other acts are continuing to affect China's high-end chilled beef consumption.

In January-June 2012, China imported 9,930.04 tons of frozen beef. In January-June 2011, China imported 8,148.24 tons of frozen beef, and imported frozen beef increased by 21.87% year-on-year. Chinese frozen beef imports mainly come from Uruguay, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Canada. From this we can see that the U.S. imported beef and the so-called Japanese beef, which are very common in the Chinese market, are not entering China through formal channels.



In respect of imported lamb, from January to June 2012, China imported 58,335.70 tons of cold and frozen mutton. In the same period of 2011, imports of chilled and frozen mutton were 43,712 tons, up 33.43% year-on-year, mainly from New Zealand, Australia and Uruguay.