China’s clampdown on illegal Indian buffalo meat puts US$2 billion trade at risk

India scrambles to find new buyers for it buffalo meat as China tightens controls due to African swine fever outbreak

South Asian nation cannot directly sell buffalo meat to China due to a ban introduced by Beijing in 2001 following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease

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China has been seeking alternative sources of meat following the African swine fever outbreak. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:29pm, 8 Dec 2019Updated: 10:51am, 9 Dec 2019

China’s crackdown on illegal meat imports has left India, one of the biggest exporters of buffalo meat, scrambling for a new buyer.

Beijing has adopted stricter border controls due to African swine fever, meaning Indian buffalo meat exports into China that usually flow through Vietnam have all but stopped. Indian exporters are now hoping Indonesia can more than triple its meat imports from the South Asian nation to make up for the heavy losses this year.

Tighter border controls in China have hurt a black market meat trade that is normally worth about US$2 billion a year. India cannot directly sell buffalo meat to China due to a ban introduced by Beijing in 2001 following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

China, the biggest consumer of pork, has boosted beef and other meat imports as consumers seek alternatives following the deadly swine disease that has killed more than a million pigs.

Indian shipments of buffalo meat and offal to China via Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand and Hong Kong in the year to October fell by 23 per cent year on year to 14,645 containers, according to data compiled by the All India Meat and Livestock Exporters Association. Government figures showed exports to Vietnam, India’s biggest buyer, dropped 34 per cent to 202,873 tonnes in the six months ended in September.