Brazil’s agricultural attaché in Beijing urges stricter export monitoring; lack of full traceability poses challenges for the supply chain
China is stepping up controls on pesticide and veterinary drug residues in imported agricultural products. Amid repeated notifications and shipment rejections involving suppliers from around the world, Brazil’s agricultural attaché in Beijing sent an alert to the country’s Agriculture Ministry this month, calling for stricter monitoring before shipments leave the country. The aim is to reduce risks to exports to China, Brazil’s largest customer in several segments, including soybeans and beef.
“In this environment, a single detection of a prohibited substance or a residue exceeding China’s MRL [maximum residue limit] can result in the return or destruction of a shipment and the suspension of export authorization,” says the document signed by agricultural attaché Leandro Diamantino Feijó, which Valor has seen.
He recommends removing inputs prohibited in China from Brazil’s production chain. According to industry sources, however, this possibility has been ruled out for now. One person familiar with the matter said the attaché’s warning was not intended to cause alarm but to improve monitoring.
The information is contained in a document dated October that refers to updates issued in August by China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to its lists of prohibited and discontinued veterinary drugs and prohibited and restricted-use pesticides.
According to two sources, agricultural industry representatives have already discussed the matter with Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry.
One measure suggested by the attaché is to share the information with the ministry departments responsible for sanitary controls and with exporters’ associations. He proposes “removing substances prohibited in China from the supply chain and complying with veterinary drug dosage requirements and withdrawal periods to meet Chinese MRLs.”
He also recommends that exporters of plant-based products check maximum residue limits and the prohibitions and restrictions listed by China, taking into account potential differences between inputs approved for use in Brazil and those banned by the Asian country.
According to Feijó, China’s tougher enforcement measures have led to an increase in food import rejections by the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) due to residue levels, affecting Brazil and other suppliers.
“There were no detections between 2020 and 2023. There were 22 shipments in 2024, concentrated in four declarations from three facilities, 13 in 2025 and five in the first half of 2026, almost all involving animal products. About two-thirds of the detections resulted from residues exceeding MRLs for substances approved for use, particularly fluazuron in beef (24 shipments),” the attaché says, referring to the rejection of Brazilian cargoes.
GACC data show that Brazilian beef exporters received 320 notifications from China for various types of noncompliance in shipments between January and August 2026, including issues involving residues, temperature, and labeling. The figure compares with 167 notifications in the same period a year earlier. According to the data, 82 violations recorded during the period in 2026 occurred in Mato Grosso state.
Luciano Vacari, CEO of NeoAgro Consultoria, says fluazuron has become a widely used veterinary product in Brazil’s cattle industry, recognized for its effectiveness in parasite control and for meeting the safety, sanitary, and efficiency requirements demanded in global markets. “However, something has changed. Recurring reports from China about fluazuron residues in Brazilian beef exports have set off alarm bells across the industry,” the expert says.
In his view, the problem stems from Brazil’s failure to effectively implement an individual animal traceability system. “Without such a system, it is impossible to accurately identify the animal from which the residue originated,” Vacari says.
The issue extends beyond the meat industry. In November 2025, China canceled the import of a 69,000-tonne shipment of Brazilian soybeans and suspended purchases from five facilities operated by four different companies following an alleged contamination involving 10 tonnes of wheat treated with pesticides. Brazil is not authorized to export wheat to China, and the pesticides used are banned in the Asian country.
Contacted by Valor, Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry and the country’s agricultural attaché in China did not respond to requests for comment. The Chinese Embassy in Brazil also did not respond. The National Union of the Animal Health Products Industry (Sindan) declined to comment. The Brazilian Association of Meat Exporting Industries (Abiec) said it would not comment because it had not been officially informed of the matter.
(Rafael Walendorff contributed reporting from Brasília.)
*By Nayara Figueiredo, Globo Rural — São Paulo
Source: Valor International
https://valorinternational.globo.com/