A staff member arranges frozen pork at a dispatch site of an on-line shopping service in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, Aug. 13, 2022. Photo: Xinhua

China imported 1,346 tons of pork products from Russia in June, quadrupling May's figure, data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC) showed over the weekend.

China imported 870.27 tons of frozen pork and 475.83 tons of frozen pork offal in June, GAC data showed on Saturday. In comparison, the nation imported 269.56 tons of Russian frozen pork and 80.76 tons of frozen pork offal in May.

In terms of value, the June imports of Russian frozen pork and frozen pork offal reached 27.34 million yuan ($3.76 million), nearly quadrupling the 6.79 million yuan registered during May.

After a long hiatus of 15 years, China lifted a ban over African swine fever on imports of Russia pork and by-products in September 2023 with the first shipment of Russian pork arriving in China in April, according to Sputniknews.cn.

Russian pork exports to China could reach 15,000 tons in 2024, or even up to 100,000 tons, the Russian news portal reported, quoting head of the Russian agriculture regulator Sergey Dankvert.

The increase in pork products from Russia came at a time when China is conducting an anti-dumping probe into pork from the EU.

On July 18, China's Ministry of Commerce issued a notice saying that investigating authorities will use a sampling method in anti-dumping probe into EU pork, while providing further details on the sampling plan and the preliminary sampling results for anti-dumping case involving pork and pig by-products from Europe.

The anti-dumping probe was initiated at the request of the China Animal Agriculture Association on June 6 on behalf of the Chinese pork and pig by-products industry. 

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202406/1314358.shtml

Chinese analysts said on Sunday that the rapid increase in Russian pork products is positive news as the country chooses to diversify its imports sources amid the country's efforts in enhancing its food security.

"China's pork market, where imports are of a supplementary nature to the cyclic fluctuations of domestic demands, is driven by market forces and importers play a vital role in diversifying China's import sources," Li Guoxiang, a researcher from the Rural Development Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"As China continues to open its agriculture market, and shares its growth dividends with trading partners on a mutually beneficial, reciprocal basis, the Russian pork industry faces an opportunity. The vast China market is big enough even for the 100,000-ton-level exports mentioned by the Russian official, provided that these exports possess a competitive price footing," Li said.

High-level political ties also meant the Russian and Chinese authorities are in a better position to iron out non-market issues associated with the processing of imported goods should they occur, Li noted.

China currently has 21 imports source countries, with Russia and Belgium becoming the latest exporters in 2024, according to media reports.

In 2023, China imported roughly $3.5 billion worth of pork products, and about half came from the EU. Spain exported $865.3 million worth of pork to China, accounting for about 25 percent of China's total pork imports in 2023, GAC data showed.