By Hugh Bronstein and Maximilian Heath
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina has temporarily suspended exports to China from six meat packing plants after cases of the novel coronavirus were found among their employees, the president of Argentina’s food quality and safety body Senasa said on Wednesday.
China, the main destination for the South American country’s beef, has been clamping down on meat imports amid concerns about infections of COVID-19, which is gripping countries around the region, including key food producers Argentina and Brazil.
Carlos Alberto Paz, the head of Senasa, said the decision to halt exports from the companies was made after Beijing asked the Argentine government to offer commercial security guarantees amid the pandemic.
“They are temporarily not exporting,” Paz said on the sidelines of an event in Buenos Aires, referring to the six plants out of a total 88 authorized to export to China. He said they included plants of FRIAR and Frigorífico Rioplatense.
“As soon as factories are in a position to re-export, we will give them the go-ahead once again.”
According to Argentina’s agriculture ministry, 76% of the 328,170 tonnes of bovine meat shipped from the country between January and May were destined for China.
“They (China) asked us what guarantees we could give them so that they would have security with the products they import and we gave them those guarantees,” Paz added.
Argentina has 106,910 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with almost 2,000 fatalities. The vast majority of cases have been in and around the capital city Buenos Aires.
(Reporting by Hugh Bronstein and Maximilian Heath; Writing by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
