Australian beef will soon be hit by 55% tariff in China, ministry says

 

SCMP:

Australian beef will soon be hit by 55% tariff in China, ministry says

China’s imports of Australian beef are about to surpass a quota introduced by Beijing to protect domestic farmers

He Huifengin Guangdong

Published: 6:30pm, 2 Jun 2026

Australian beef will soon be subject to an additional 55 per cent import duty in China, with shipments of the meat about to surpass an annual quota set by Beijing, China’s Ministry of Commerce confirmed on Tuesday.

Imports of Australian beef have already reached 90 per cent of this year’s quota, meaning that a tariff adjustment will soon be triggered, the ministry announced via an alert.

Until recently, most imports of Australian beef were subject to low or even zero tariffs in China under a bilateral free-trade agreement. But that changed in January, when Beijing introduced a three-year beef tariff scheme to protect China’s domestic farmers.

The policy sets an annual quota for beef imported from a string of countries – including Australia, Argentina, Brazil, New Zealand, Uruguay and the United States – with a 55 per cent levy kicking in once the quota is reached.

Under the system, 205,000 tonnes of Australian beef could be imported to China with low tariffs in 2026. Chinese authorities will begin charging the 55 per cent duty three days after the threshold is passed, the ministry said.

China’s beef industry has been hit by a downturn in demand in recent years, as falling import prices erode domestic producers’ cost advantages and dampen processors’ appetite for local meat, according to a report released by market information provider Sublime China Information (SCI) last week.

In 2023, domestic beef was selling for about 77 yuan (US$11.40) per kilogram on average in China, but that fell to 71.3 yuan in December and just 66.38 yuan in late May, data from SCI showed.

Imports of Australian beef have accelerated in recent weeks. In mid-May, around 80 per cent of the quota had been used, but now the level has already risen to 90 per cent, suggesting the ceiling could be reached within weeks.

Brazil is China’s top beef supplier, followed by Australia and the United States. This year’s quota for Brazilian beef is 1.1 million tonnes, while the limit for American beef is 164,000 tonnes.

China renewed import licences for hundreds of US beef plants during US President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing last month. Before that, US beef exports to China had been severely affected amid rising trade tensions between the two countries.