(Bloomberg) -- Cattle farmers in Britain and Germany are among the latest winners from a shortage of meat in China.
The U.K. and China reached a deal on Monday to allow British beef to be sold to the Asian country by year-end. That marks the first potential shipments since the 1990s, when British beef was banned amid an outbreak of mad cow disease. Germany last week also said that Chinese officials have pledged to speed up procedures for opening up beef trade.
China is working to broaden its sources of meat as African swine fever spreads through its hog herds, slashing pork supplies in the world's top consumer. China's pork imports jumped 24% on the year to 135,517 tons in April. The nation is also considering lifting restrictions on pork from Russia and buffalo meat from India, according to the China Meat Association.
“The Chinese market is going to be really important going forward,” and the opportunity for beef is rising amid the pig disease outbreak, said Nick Allen, chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association. “It will take time to filter through. There's a long way to go yet before stuff starts to go.”
The U.K. beef deal is valued at 230 million pounds ($289 million) over the next five years, though some approvals are still required from China's customs department, the U.K.'s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement.
China also recently approved five British pork plants for export, with more possible by the end of the year, according to the agency.
Germany's agriculture ministry said that China has agreed on steps to ensure pork exports remain possible if African swine fever spreads in Europe. The nation is Europe's top pork producer, and the virus has struck wild pigs in neighboring Belgium since last year.
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To contact the reporters on this story: Megan Durisin in London at mdurisin1@bloomberg.net;Áine Quinn in London at aquinn38@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net, Nicholas Larkin
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