Brazil official says China wants smaller list of meat plants for exports

The Chinese government has asked Brazil to reduce a list of meat plants seeking authorization to export to the Asian country, a step that could help Beijing expedite the approval process, Carlos Fávaro, Brazilian agriculture minister, said on Thursday.

Speaking to cabinet ministers ahead of a meeting of the China-Brazil Commission of High Level of Agreement and Cooperation, Favaro said Brazil had requested export approval for a total of 77 plants based on two different lists.

But faced with the Chinese request to reduce the number, the minister said the government has no option but to talk with industry representatives to cut some plants from the list.

“We are in the evaluation phase, we are going to call the representatives of the meat companies so that we can reduce this list… and have new plants approved later this year.” (Reporting by Eduardo Simões in São Paulo; Writing by Ana Mano; Editing by Kylie Madry and David Gregorio).

@Reuters