中 "Excessive Increase in Imported Beef Supply Triggers Safeguard Investigation"

"Beef Prices Plummet Due to Oversupply"

"Investigations Usually Conclude Within 8 Months"

Beef dish at a restaurant in Madrid, Spain. Photo by Reuters Yonhap News.

On the 27th, the Ministry of Commerce of China announced in a statement that it will launch an emergency import restriction (safeguard) investigation on imported beef.

The investigation targets beef products imported into China from January 1, 2019, to June 30 of this year.

The Ministry of Commerce stated, "The investigation usually concludes within eight months but may be extended in special cases."

According to major foreign media such as Xinhua News Agency and Bloomberg News, this safeguard investigation follows a request submitted on the 19th by the China Animal Agriculture Association (CAAA) and nine industry associations from major beef-producing regions in China.

Chinese beef producers claim that during the investigation period, the volume of beef imports increased significantly, leading to oversupply and sluggish consumption, causing beef prices to fall to their lowest levels in years.

According to the applicants' petition, beef imports increased by 65% from 2019 to last year. The import volume in the first half of this year doubled compared to the first half of 2019. Consequently, the share of imported products in the Chinese beef market rose from 21% in 2019 to 31% in the first half of this year.

The wholesale price of beef at the end of this month was 59.82 yuan per kilogram (approximately 12,000 KRW), down 22% compared to 77.18 yuan (approximately 15,600 KRW) in 2022.

Safeguards are trade measures under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that impose tariffs or restrict imports on specific items. These measures can be taken when increased imports of a product cause or threaten to cause damage to domestic industries producing similar goods.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.