The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) may lift restrictions on Brazilian beef imports as early as April, according to Brazilian agriculture minister Blairo Maggi. The USDA banned all imports of fresh beef from Brazil last June, amid “recurring concerns” about the food safety of the product.

Speaking to news media this week, Maggi said US officials are pushing hard for Brazil to abolish its 20% tariff on all ethanol imports from the US. For this import tariff to be abolished, Maggi hinted that the US would need to reverse its decision to ban all fresh beef imports from Brazil.

“The United States is strongly demanding us to leave the duty, and we also have the meat problem. Obviously, one issue affects and contaminates the other,” he said.

Banned

The US and Brazil have a very on-off relationship in terms of trade. The USDA’s decision to ban imports of fresh beef from Brazil last year came about following the Operation Weak Flesh meat scandal which engulfed the Brazilian beef industry last March.

Following Operation Weak Flesh, the USDA began inspecting 100% of all Brazilian beef imports. The US Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) subsequently rejected 106 lots of Brazilian beef, which came to a combined 862t, on public health concerns, sanitary conditions and animal health issues.

The 106 lots rejected at port equated to an 11% refusal rate on Brazilian beef imports, which the USDA said was substantially higher than the rejection rate of 1% of shipments from the rest of the world.