On Thursday, China begins imposing additional customs duties of 55 percent on beef imports from Brazil, after Brazilian shipments reached the maximum annual share in the Chinese market of 1.1 million tons, in a move that adds new pressure on the largest beef exporting country in the world.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday that Brazil has exhausted its annual quota allocated for exports to China, which means that any additional shipments, starting from October 1, will be subject to the additional tariffs that Beijing announced last January to protect the local livestock industry.
Additional fees apply to suppliers who exceed their quotas. For Brazil, 55 percent will be added to the basic import tariff of 12 percent, bringing the total duties on shipments exceeding the quota to 67 percent.
The move is of great importance for the Brazilian meat sector, given that China is the largest buyer of beef from the country, which makes any restrictions on access to the Chinese market have a direct impact on the volume of exports, prices and profitability of producers.
Brazil sought to find alternatives that would allow its exports to continue after the quota was exhausted. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said last week that Uruguay had allowed Brazil to use the surplus of its quota to export beef to China. But sources in the sector said that Beijing did not agree to allow Brazil to use the quota allocated to Uruguay, either during the current year or next.
She added that China is unlikely to accept such arrangements even if Brazil directly reaches agreements with other countries to use the untapped amounts of its quotas. Reuters reported in May that Beijing had rejected repeated attempts by Brazil to obtain approval to use other countries' quotas, while the Chinese Ministry of Commerce did not comment publicly on these requests.
Attention is now turning to Beijing's decision to extend the beef import quota system to 2027, which is expected to become clear before the end of the year, as this will have a major impact on the plans of Brazilian producers and exporters. The Brazilian Meat Export Industries Association (APEC) expects the country's total beef exports to decline by 10 percent during 2026 compared to the previous year, in light of Chinese restrictions and similar measures recently taken by the European Union.
The new duties put the Brazilian meat sector before the challenge of diversifying export markets and reducing its dependence on Chinese demand, at a time when Beijing is using quotas and fees to protect local producers from pressures resulting from the influx of imports.
Official data showed, on Wednesday, that Japan's imports of crude oil rose by 13.1 percent last August, compared to the previous year, driven by a jump in supplies from America, as well as the contribution of increased supplies from Mexico and a recovery in purchases from Saudi Arabia.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry reported that imports rose to 2.51 million barrels per day, recording a monthly increase, for the third month in a row, despite the turmoil resulting from the conflict in the Middle East.
Imports from the Middle East fell by 28.4 percent year-on-year in August.
Although the pace of decline in shipments from the Middle East was less severe, compared to the declines recorded in previous months (68 percent during April, 49.7 percent during May, and 32.4 percent during June), it exceeded the percentage of decline recorded in July, which amounted to 21.4 percent.
In contrast, imports from the United States jumped more than 12-fold, compared to the previous year, to reach 844,685 barrels per day, and supplies from Central and South America, including Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia, also witnessed a sharp increase.
Japan also imported crude from Australia, Canada, Brunei and South Sudan.
It is noteworthy that the Middle East region used to account for 94 percent of Japan’s crude imports, but this share decreased in August to 60.7 percent, recording an annual decline, for the eleventh month in a row, while the United States’ share reached 33.7 percent, a percentage close to Saudi Arabia’s share of 34 percent.
The data showed that sales of domestic petroleum products in Japan decreased last month by 3.2 percent, compared to the previous year, to reach 2.19 million barrels per day.
Gasoline sales declined by 3.7 percent to reach 813,639 barrels per day, while kerosene sales decreased by 16.9 percent, compared to the previous year, to reach 53,542 barrels per day.
