Australia may be able to ship beef into China tariff-free over the next three months by using quota China allocated to Uruguay that Uruguay will not fill, Jon Condon reports for Beef Central.
China introduced a safeguard tariff on imported beef at the start of 2026. Australia's 205,000-tonne quota filled by 20 June, and both Australia and Brazil have now filled theirs, triggering a 55 percent tariff on further shipments for the rest of the year; Brazil also pays an extra 12 percent most-favoured-nation tariff. Uruguay was allocated 324,000 tonnes against 2025 shipments of about 190,000 tonnes, leaving a large volume unused.
Australian Meat Industry Council chief executive Tim Ryan said a request was lodged with Uruguay through the Australian government earlier in the year. "Now that Uruguay has signalled that it is open to an arrangement such as this, all parties are now effectively under discussion," he said, but the tonnage, timing and treatment of any deal are unknown, and quotas reset on 1 January. Uruguay has also talked to Brazil, though Australia is understood to be first in the queue.
Ryan said the biggest benefit would be shipping China-bound beef now sitting in bonded cold storage or already at sea, easing pressure on next year's 209,000-tonne quota, which Australia may fill by Easter. The industry and government are still pressing China to exclude lower-value items such as bones and chilled beef from the quota count.
Photo: Cgoodwin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Beef Central
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