Imports of beef from 4 Australian firms halted

China has suspended beef imports from four major Australian meat processors, a foreign ministry spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday.

Spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters that China’s customs agency “continuously” found instances of the Australian companies having violated inspection and quarantine requirements and suspended the imports to “ensure the safety and health of Chinese consumers.”

“(China’s customs) notified the relevant Australian departments and required them to investigate completely the reason for the problem and to fix it,” Zhao said on Tuesday.

He added that the suspension was unrelated to the bilateral dispute over COVID-19. Zhao also blasted Australia’s demand for a coronavirus inquiry as “erroneous words and deeds” and warned against “using the epidemic to engage in political manipulation.”

Labeling issues were also cited by Beijing when the same companies and two others lost their licences to ship beef to China in 2017 for several months.

Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham described the import suspension as “disappointing,” but said the government was treating the trade issues as unrelated to discussions around a virus probe.

“We are concerned that the suspensions appear to be based on highly technical issues, which in some cases date back more than a year,” he said. “We will work with industry and authorities in both Australia and China to seek to find a solution that allows these businesses to resume their normal operations as soon as possible.”

Birmingham said Kilcoy Pastoral Company, JBS’s Beef City and Dinmore plants, and the Northern Cooperative Meat Company have been banned from exporting beef to China due to issues with labeling and health certificates.

“Thousands of jobs relate to these meat processing facilities. Many more farmers rely upon them in terms of selling cattle into those facilities,” Birmingham told reporters in Canberra.

Australian Meat Industry Council Chief Executive Patrick Hutchinson said the companies made up approximately 20 percent of Australian beef exports to China.

Australian meat exporters were aware of Chinese labeling requirements, Hutchinson said.

Worth more than A$3 billion (US$1.94 billion), Chinese demand for Australian beef surged in 2019, fueled by a growing middle class and as consumers switched to eating beef as pork availability fell during a swine fever outbreak which decimated Chinese hog herds.

JBS said in a statement it was working with Australian officials “to understand the technical issues that China has raised” and would take corrective action.