Spain remains the main European supplier of pork to China

According to the Danish Agriculture and Food Federation (L&F) based on Beijing trade statistics, CHINA 's pork imports, including by-products, fell by about 252,000 tons, or also 6%, to 3.93 million tons in the first three quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year. About 77% of this volume was accounted for by fresh and frozen products, the purchases of which fell by 6% to 3.02 million tons; the decline in offal imports was just as large, down 6.1% to 907,400 tons.

Despite the recent decline in Chinese imports, which stood at just over 310,000 tonnes in September, Spain was able to expand its leading position as a leading supplier of pork thanks to strong exports earlier in the year. Iberians increased sales of half carcasses and cuts in the People's Republic by 53.4% ​​to almost 945,000 tons compared to January-September 2020. Together with by-products, a total of about 1.16 million tons were exported to the Chinese market, which is almost twice as much as in the previous period.

The US exported 601,100 tons; this is also a fifth less than in the same period in 2020. While the Americans were able to increase offal shipments to China by 30% to 243,000 tons, shipments of fresh and frozen pork products decreased by almost 223,000 tons, or 38.3%, to 358,100 tons. On the other hand, Brazil increased its frozen pork exports. to the People's Republic by 17% to 402,600 tons.

Apart from Spain, many other EU countries also showed higher volumes of pork exports to China; these included the Netherlands, Denmark and France. However, their sales to China have also fallen sharply in recent months. Germany is completely excluded from trade due to African swine fever (ASF). Last year, 563,400 tons of German pork were exported to China in the first three quarters, and in 2021, almost nothing.