Chinese imports of fresh/frozen pork rose by 160% during the third quarter of this year, compared to 2015, according to AHDB Pork.
This took the country’s pork import total for the first nine months of 2016 to 1.28 million tonnes, well over double last year’s figure, with many pork-producing countries making large individual trading gains as a result.
The EU as a whole saw exports to China rise from 377,000 tonnes in 2015 (Jan-Sept) to 873,000/t for the same period this year. Within that total, Germany went from 137,000/t to 263,000/t, Spain advanced from 90,000/t to 208,000/t and Denmark from 51,000/t to 134,000/t.
The UK, meanwhile, starting out at just 23,700/t in 2015, has pushed its export total to 32,800/t so far this year.
While non-EU suppliers into China had to settle for sharing 405.000/t between January and September this year, just over half the level of EU business, the US, Canada and Brazil all saw strong gains.
By far the most dramatic rise was achieved by Brazil, however, who cashed on securing access to the Chinese market by going from almost nothing at the start of the year to 61,000 tonnes by September, representing a 5% share in the Chinese import market.