BRASILIA/SAO PAULO — China has not approved any new Brazilian meat plants for export this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, an official at Brazil's Agriculture Ministry told Reuters, adding that all approvals were on hold until the crisis eases. The freeze comes despite the fact that Brazil and China implemented a new system in January intended to speed up approvals, said Orlando Leite Ribeiro, international affairs secretary at Brazil's Agriculture Ministry. The ministry tried to get in touch with Chinese counterparts early this year to begin using the system, but at that time, as the coronavirus threat emerged, China's General Administration of Customs (GACC) was not working normally, Ribeiro said. Now that Brazil has been hit by the outbreak, many public employees are working from home to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus and associated COVID-19 disease, preventing the necessary meetings to gain new plant approvals, he said.

Source: International New York Times March 31, 2020 17:37 UTC