Beijing retailers’ big beef

Beijing – In a supermarket in downtown Beijing, refrigerator shelves normally fi lled with steak from around the world sit empty as tougher testing for the novel coronavirus creates supply bottlenecks and raises prices for importers.

Fresh supplies of beef won’t arrive for days, a salesman at the Suning.comowned Carrefour outlet said – if then. That’s a big setback for the industry at traditionally one of its busiest times of the year.

“Whether we can get supplies then and how much, remains a question,” said the salesperson, who declined to be identified as he was not allowed to talk to media.

Suning did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China began testing batches of imported chilled and frozen meat and seafood for the coronavirus in June, but significantly ramped up its inspections early this month after port workers in several cities tested positive for Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.

The new measures, which include testing much more product than before and additional disinfection, are raising costs for importers while adding time and layers of red tape in an industry used to working at speed to guarantee freshness.

The move is especially hurting the booming beef trade, worth $8.65 billion (about R132 billion) last year and growing rapidly, as some importers cut purchases on rising costs and weaker demand caused by consumers’ coronavirus worries.

Though China says the risk of shoppers catching the virus from chilled foods is low, officials said this week there is still a risk of infection, particularly for handlers who repeatedly come into contact with the outer packaging of imported cold-chain food.

In Tianjin, northern China’s most important port for meat shipments, the trade has come to a virtual halt, after a worker tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this month.

Warehouses were ordered to test all frozen meat before it could be shipped to the market, and no new product can enter.

A salesperson at Meat Mate, a restaurant and retailer selling chilled Australian beef, said it now needs to place orders three months in advance, instead of one previously, to deal with the delays. –