China has granted export licences to eight new Australian facilities to start supplying beef, just months after introducing a range of trade measures and tariffs to protect its domestic cattle industry.
China’s customs website (GACC) shows late on Friday (April 17), China approved access to six distribution centres (cold stores) and also two abattoirs — including the Thomas Foods International meatworks near Murray Bridge in South Australia.
The federal Department of Agriculture has confirmed the new allocations and said China had also given 13 China-listed abattoirs approval to allow additional product to be exported.
Global AgriTrends’s meat analyst, Simon Quilty, said the new approvals plus the “upgrading” of 13 export licences, would allow Australia to export more chilled beef to China.
“So I understand those 13 licences have been upgraded from frozen to chilled beef into China as well,” he said.
“So the two new abattoirs, plus 13, gives a total of 15 new extra licences for chilled beef to China, which is more than double what Australia has had in the past.”
In a statement, Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said, “additional market access is welcomed and highlights the high quality and safe beef that Australia exports”.
According to MLA, China imported 272,940 tonnes of beef from Australia in 2025. (Craig Zonca)
What’s driving the sudden demand?
Mr Quilty said the timing of China’s decision was unusual.
He said at the start of this year, China enforced a 205,000-tonne quota on Australian beef imports, which was on track to be filled by mid-June.
Any beef exports from Australia after that would face an unviable 55 per cent tariff.
He said there had been reports of outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in China and wondered if the severity of the outbreaks was being downplayed.
“Australia has been given all of this extra access, but we’re going to hit the [205,000-tonne quota] within a very short period of time, it really doesn’t make sense unless there’s other changes afoot,” he said.
Australia does not have foot-and-mouth disease. (Supplied: Agriculture Victoria)
In late March, China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs confirmed outbreaks of FMD in Yining County, Xinjiang and also in Gulang County, Gansu Province — which are about 2,400 kilometres apart.
The brief statement said 142 of the 513 cattle at the trading market in Xinjang were “sick” and one farm in Gulang County, Gansu Province had 77 cattle sick out of 5,716 head.
“After the outbreak, the local government immediately carried out culling, cleaning and disinfection,”
it said.
It said authorities were monitoring the situation “in accordance with the requirement of the emergency plan”.
But Mr Quilty said non-state media outlets were reporting FMD outbreaks involving the SAT-1 strain, were happening in other regions of China.
“If China is suffering domestic losses of fresh beef due to FMD, plus a lack of access for American beef, it points to a lack of chilled beef in China and therefore giving 15 new licences [for Australian exports makes sense].
“These allocations are possibly an early indicator of China changing their structure and hopefully giving Australia much greater access,”
he said
Meat industry representatives have told ABC Rural that China’s increased demand for Australian beef was good news, but they would not comment on “theories” that it may be driven by FMD outbreaks in China, and that many nations were looking to improve their food security during the current global uncertainty.
ABC Rural has sought comment from Thomas Foods International and the Australian Meat Industry Council.
