The Art Of The Deal – China Approves Brazil For Shipments Of Swine-Offal

The Art of the Deal is alive and well in how China is acquiring foreign pig products. 

China’s recent move to smash pig prices in the Western Hemisphere by blocking shipments from the US, let their cold storage facilities swell, then go to surrounding countries and make heavily discounted deals.

This is precisely what happened in Brazil, where China signed the first-ever trade deal with Brazil to start receiving shipments of swine offal, or organ meats (hearts, tongues, stomachs, and entrails).

Brazil Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina told reporters Monday that it didn’t previously have access to China’s swine-offal market.

Now it does, and JBS SA and BRF SA are the Brazilian meat companies that will immediately start sending pig byproducts to China. 

The US had a significant influence on China’s swine offal market, but since China slapped 50% tariffs last year on US pork — trade between both countries has sagged. 

Brazil’s swine offal sales to China are expected to soar in the coming months. The Asian nation has been desperately searching for pig products around the world as its domestic herd has been halved this year thanks to African swine fever. 

The trade deal with Brazil comes at a time when the US and China are attempting to agree on a “Phase 1” trade deal of their own. 

It’s not really a comprehensive trade deal, it’s just China buying a lot of agriculture products from the US — but has been packaged up by the Trump administration as the “greatest” deal ever to pump stocks.