25% of South African beef exports went to China in the last year (R290 million) , making China our largest export destination for beef. All of this is at risk if safeguard duties are imposed.

This is an emergency action, so we should be prepared for provisional duties fairly quickly. You need to be very careful of what you ship from now on as you could find yourself facing duties when you containers land in China.

Safeguards are used when there is a sudden, severe and unexpected surge in imports, which is what China alleges happened. All countries, except for those who account for very small volumes and Least Developed Countries (LDCs), will be impacted. South Africa’s volumes have certainly climbed significantly over the last three years, from 1 700 tons to 3 000 tons in the most recent year. Losing this market will hurt.

We’ll post a more detailed note when we receive a copy of the application.

Interested parties have until 16 January to respond.

Worried about losing access for your beef to China? Drop us a line at info@xagta.com and let’s see how we can help you.