June 29, 2015
China to resume importation of buffalo meat from India
China will be sending an inspection team to India next month preparatory to the resumption of meat imports, which have been banned over foot-and-mouth disease issues.
The move to resume the importation of Indian bovine meat comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a visit to China last month and two years after both countries signed a memorandum of understanding encouraging the export of Indian buffalo meat to China.
"China''s quarantine inspectors are coming to inspect bovine meat facilities in July, which is two years after the memorandum of understanding was signed. We are hopeful that it will clear the way for our agri exports," a concerned Indian government official was quoted in a news report as saying.
Earlier in April India questioned China''s continued curbs on Indian buffalo meat imports at an agriculture committee meeting of the World Trade Organisation, and was poised to take the dispute-resolution route if China was not favourably responsive. India had pointed out that Chinese quarantine inspectors had already inspected the meat plants in India and that they found the meats to be safe. Despite this, however, there had been no signs of China lifting the ban.
China''s lifting of the temporary ban on Indian buffalo meat would satisfy China''s demand for the Indian meat, which is estimated to be worth about $1.5 billion a year.
There have been reports that Chinese exporters were getting their buffalo meat through Vietnam, where buffalo meat imports from India almost doubled both in terms of quantity and value in the past two years.