Sino-US trade war changes the trade pattern of China’s imports, and Brazil ranks among the top five source countries of China’s imports.

By CnAgri2018-10-24 15:50:47 Print China is a net importer of pork. In 2017, Spain, Germany, Canada, the United State, and Denmark were the main source countries of China’s imported pork, roughly accounting for 20%, 17%, 14%, 14%, and 7% of China’s total pork imports respectively.
Under the impact of Sino-US trade war this year, the cost advantages and competitiveness of US pork have largely reduced after China imposed an increased tariff on pork originating in the US. Compared with pork from Germany, Spain, Brazil and other countries, US pork is basically uncompetitive. From the statistics of China’s pork imports from China Customs, the pattern of source countries of China’s imported pork have changed greatly, and Brazil has ranked among the top five exporters and the US has dropped the fifth.
From January to August 2018, China’s import volume of pork was 828,700 tons, down by 0.6% year-on-year; and the import value reached 1.478 billion US dollars, decreasing 2.4% from the previous year. The import volume saw little decrease as the reduction in imports of US pork has been rapidly replenished by other countries.
From the perspective of exporting countries, during the period from January to July 2018, Germany was the largest source country of China’s imported pork with a export volume of 143,000 tons, a year-on-year growth of 31.38%; and Brazil became the fourth largest source country with an export volume of 80,000 tons to China, up 144% from the previous year; the US was reduced to the fifth with an export volume of 72,000 tons to China, a year-on-year decrease of 31.96%. In addition, China’s imports of pork from Finland and Italy also increased largely. 
Sino-US trade dispute hasn’t been remitted, the exports of the US to China still face great challenges in the fourth quarter of 2018. In addition, China Customs has increased investigation on imports since the outbreaks of African swine fever in our country in August, which will impact import volume.
It’s expected that China’s pork import volume will amount to 110,000 tons in 2018, down about 10% year-on-year.