French beef producers have hailed a deal reached by President Emmanuel Macron and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to end China\u2019s 2001 embargo on French beef. The accord, which would allow French producers back into the huge Chinese market within six months, came as Macron made a three-day visit to the country, his first destination in Asia as France\u2019s leader.<\/p>\n
The ban was imposed over a decade ago as Beijing started closing off its markets to all European and later US beef imports in the wake of the \u201cmad cow\u201d disease scare. Paris has been working for years to promote the safety of its meat and open new markets for its ranchers, who were hit hard by the \u201cmad cow\u201d scare of the 1990s.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur beef currently has no access for sanitary reasons. But with French beef consumption falling five percent a year, we have to find new markets,\u201d said economy minister Bruno Le Maire, who is travelling with Macron.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will allow for higher prices that will better compensate cattle ranchers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Beef is rapidly becoming more common on Chinese tables as the middle class expands, with imported meat particularly prized.<\/p>\n
\u201cExcellent news for France\u2019s beef producers, who consider the potential of the Chinese market a strategic opportunity,\u201d the Interbev producers\u2019 association said in a statement yesterday.<\/p>\n
Its president, Dominique Langlois, is part of the delegation of about 50 business leaders who joined Macron for his trip. Interbev said China is the second-largest importer of beef, at nearly 1.1 million tons a year. The average inhabitant eats four kilogrammes (8.8 pounds) each year, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.<\/p>\n
Ninety per cent of China\u2019s imports currently come from Brazil, Uruguay, Australia and New Zealand. Several countries have dropped their import bans against French beef in recent years, including the United States, which again opened its market last year after imposing a ban in 1998. French producers could nonetheless find China a tough market to crack.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is market share for France to take in China,\u201d said Jean-Marc Chaumet, an economist who specialises in China at the French Livestock Institute in Paris.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it won\u2019t be an Eldorado. It will be hard and take time, because France will be entering a very competitive market already open to the US, Uruguay, Canada and Australia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd they\u2019ll need to invest, because the Chinese don\u2019t know about French beef,\u201d Chaumet added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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