I haven’t posted on it, but the price of your steak may go up due to Brazil’s tainted-meat scandal:
The European Union and countries including China have banned imports from Brazil or companies there accused by police of bribing sanitary officials for health certificates. The U.S. and other countries have also stepped up inspections of Brazilian imports.
The clampdown on the world’s largest beef and poultry exporter pushed U.S. cattle futures to a 14-month high on Wednesday. Tight supply is pushing up prices in Australia, too, and some analysts expect chicken prices to rise in China.
China and Hong Kong import most of their meats from Brazil. What does it mean for the U.S.?
In the U.S., hog farmers could benefit more immediately from Brazil’s troubles than their cattle- and chicken-farming peers because they have more access to the Chinese market. U.S. poultry has been banned from China since an Avian flu outbreak in January 2015. Beef remains locked out of the market until officials finish negotiating the end to a 13-year ban.
. . .
Guo Lijun, chief financial officer at WH Group, the world’s largest pork processor, said the company hoped to use the ban to boost its operations in the U.S., China and Hong Kong. U.S. hog futures surged on Thursday.
