U.S. beef sales to China have taken a dive, U.S. government data showed on Thursday, after Beijing allowed the expiration of registrations that had permitted exports from hundreds of American meat facilities. A tit-for-tat tariff dispute has also raised duties on U.S. meat and other goods shipped to China, making the products less attractive to Chinese buyers.
The spat adds new strains to relations between the countries that had already reached historic lows in recent years. China has not renewed export registrations for U.S. beef facilities that expired on March 16, though it updated registrations for pork and poultry plants, according to traders and the U.S. Meat Export Federation trade group. As a result, U.S. exporters and Chinese buyers are reluctant to strike deals for American beef produced after that date due to uncertainty about whether it will be cleared for delivery, federation spokesperson Joe Schuele said. Nobody wants to put product at risk.
