Bull market for British beef as China lifts ban

BRITISH beef will be exported to China for the first time in 20 years giving a £50million lift to the economy.

China yesterday ended its longstanding ban on importing British beef some two decades after it was first imposed after the mad cow disease outbreak.

At the height of the crisis, British red meat was felt unfit for consumption in foreign countries including China, leading to imports being banned.

It comes after Theresa May’s trade mission to China earlier this year, during which Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, suggested that a lifting of the beef ban was imminent.

Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, visiting China this week, described it as “great news for British farmers”.

Last year, British beef and lamb also came back on the menu in the US, in what was the first major UK foreign trade deal reached since the vote to leave the EU, boosting the economy by £35million a year, according to estimates by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

China’s burgeoning middle-class means exports to the nation will be even more lucrative, with Defra estimating British farmers will benefit from a £50million a year boost. Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, said: “This is fantastic news for our world-class food and farming industry.”