Sanluí, director of the Brazilian Office in Taiwan, said in an interview in April that Taiwan is part of China and most countries do not recognize Taiwan as an independent country. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately protested. Brazil's overtures to China did not bring any benefits, and the beef it lost to China was heavily taxed. The South China Morning Post disclosed on the 1st that since this year’s Brazilian beef export quota to China has been exhausted, China refuses to allow Brazil to use Uruguay’s unused quota. Therefore, it will impose an additional 55% tariff on Brazilian beef from Thursday (1st), bringing the tariff rate for beef that exceeds the quota to 67%.
The report pointed out that China’s Ministry of Commerce announced that starting from October 1, an additional 55% tariff will be imposed on Brazilian beef that exceeds the annual quota, raising the total import tax rate for excess quota beef to 67%. Brazil's quota for this year is only 1.106 million tons, which has been completely used up. The Brazilian government is eager to borrow Uruguay's unused quota, but China has not yet agreed. The incident shows that Brazilian beef may be temporarily blocked from the world's largest beef market.
China's 55% additional tariff on Brazilian beef is behind the beef "safeguard measures" launched by Beijing. In order to protect the domestic cattle industry, China began to set annual import quotas for major beef supplier countries in January this year, and imposed an additional tariff of 55% on top of the quotas. The measures will be implemented until the end of 2028.
Chinese customs data shows that Brazil’s 2026 beef import quota has been fully used up. After exceeding the quota, Brazilian beef will be subject to the original 12% import tariff, with the total tax rate reaching 67%. Brazilian industry believes that such costs are too high to maintain normal exports.
Brazil is highly dependent on the Chinese market. According to data from the Brazilian Meat Exporters Association (ABIEC), China will import 1.68 million tons of beef from Brazil in 2025, accounting for 48% of Brazilian beef exports and amounting to US$8.9 billion. ABIEC estimates that China's quota for Brazil this year is only equivalent to about 65% of shipments in 2025, and Brazil's overall beef exports this year may be reduced by about 10%.
Faced with running out of quotas, Brazilian President Lula announced last week that Uruguay has agreed to let Brazil use part of its unused beef quota. Uruguay has been allocated 324,000 tons this year and has used only about 28% as of July; in comparison, Brazil has exhausted its quota. However, the arrangement still requires China's approval, which Beijing has yet to agree to.
Brazil’s beef export volume has actually declined rapidly. In the first half of this year, Brazilian exporters rushed to ship before the quota was exhausted. Exports to China reached 154,800 tons in May and 158,300 tons in June. However, in August, shipments plummeted to about 16,100 tons. Some meat processing plants even reduced slaughtering volumes or arranged collective vacations for employees.
In addition, Brazil is also facing dual pressures from the EU market being blocked and U.S. beef re-entering the Chinese market. In May, China re-issued export licenses for more than 400 U.S. meat factories, further increasing competition pressure on Brazil in the Chinese market.
