Chinese Beef Traders to Purchase Certified Brazilian Beef

Chinese beef traders have initiated a crucial agreement to buy Brazilian beef certified for sustainable production methods, free from illegal deforestation. The certification, known as Beef on Track, marks a first for Brazilian beef, according to Imaflora, the agricultural and conservation group overseeing it. Brazil’s primary trade partner is China, also the largest importer of Brazilian beef.

This system rates Brazil’s beef supply chains in four tiers, checking for illegal deforestation, protected area violations, and labor abuses. As of 2025, over half of Brazil’s beef exports, valued at $8.8 billion, were sent to China, based on Brazilian government statistics.

The Tianjin Meat Association, representing major Chinese importers, adopted the certification system in October. They have initially pledged to buy 50,000 tons of certified beef this year. Starting Wednesday, firms will audit imports with a Chinese certification partner, making zero-deforestation beef available in China.

Marina Guyot, climate and zero deforestation director at Imaflora, noted that while the certification may start as niche, it could grow to help separate cattle ranching from deforestation. She emphasized the need for market incentives over just enforcement to reward producers making sustainable efforts.

Brazil leads globally in beef production, responsible for 20% of output. However, the expansion of ranching since the 1980s, especially in the Amazon, has driven deforestation. The Amazon rainforest is critical for global climate regulation. Deforestation, reduced after peaks in earlier decades, rose under former President Jair Bolsonaro’s term due to weakened protections.

Current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has vowed to end deforestation by 2030. Strengthening enforcement has halved forest loss in four years. In 2009, Brazilian authorities and meatpackers reached an agreement to hold companies accountable for deforestation-linked suppliers. By 2023, a national certification system began, using public databases for tracking social and environmental impacts in supply chains. Beef on Track extends these prior efforts.

Raoni Rajão, a former Brazilian deforestation control leader and current environmental management professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, develops tools for tracking supply chains. He believes that verifying production legality should no longer be taboo for imports, drawing parallels to Paraguay’s successful border theft reduction by tracking car imports.

The Brazilian Beef Exporters Association is observing certification initiatives but stresses they align with current systems to prevent production issues. The association acknowledged international markets’ role in advancing Brazil’s cattle sustainability.

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