{"id":50388186,"date":"2024-01-25T12:39:32","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T12:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dialogochino.net\/?p=388186"},"modified":"2024-04-11T15:43:59","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T15:43:59","slug":"388186-colombias-beef-exports-could-boom-but-sustainability-is-a-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/388186-colombias-beef-exports-could-boom-but-sustainability-is-a-concern\/","title":{"rendered":"Colombia\u2019s beef exports could boom, but sustainability is a concern"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last October, Colombian president Gustavo Petro travelled to Beijing and sealed 12 agreements with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, including a trade protocol paving the way for exports of Colombian beef to China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to experts from the country\u2019s livestock farmers\u2019 union, the country\u2019s beef exports to China alone could now reach more than 100,000 tonnes<\/a> per year by 2025 \u2013 more than double the 45,000 tonnes it exported in total in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The news has been cause for celebration for livestock producers and their unions. But it has also been met with concern from environmental organisations, who fear that the prospect of increased exports could drive producers to deforest land to expand their output. Given that over the last three decades, cattle ranching has been linked to more than 3 million hectares<\/a> of deforestation in the Colombian Amazon, their concerns may not be unwarranted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agreement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Colombia first began to explore the avenue for beef exports to China over a decade ago. Mario Valencia, director of international affairs for the country\u2019s agriculture ministry, told Dialogo Chino that this process was a slow one. This was due to Colombia\u2019s need to comply with China\u2019s sanitary requirements, such as being an exporting country free of foot-and-mouth<\/a>, an infectious disease affecting livestock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gustavo<\/div>
Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Chinese leader Xi Jinping shake hands after the signing of agreements between the countries in Beijing, China, last October (Image: Mauricio Velez<\/a> \/ Presidency of Colombia<\/a>, PDM<\/a>)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A month before Petro\u2019s trip, his agriculture minister Jhenifer Mojica had visited<\/a> China for a series of meetings, and looked to progress efforts to secure Colombian beef\u2019s admission into the Chinese market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the protocol finally signed, Valencia claimed Colombia could one day even reach 250,000 tonnes of annual beef exports, which could generate income of \u201caround one billion dollars\u201d, he added. According to Fedegan, Colombia\u2019s main livestock farming association, the first container of Colombian beef will reach the Chinese market in early 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juan Fernando Roa, general manager of the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA)<\/a>, which is responsible for the supervision of sanitation of livestock activities, explains that the biggest challenge of the agreement was meeting China\u2019s sanitary requirements. In 2018, Colombia had an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, which closed doors for beef exports to several countries, and took two years to overcome<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n