INDIAN buffalo meat exports into China that flow through Vietnam has all but stopped after Chinese authorities have cracked down on the trade for fear of importing swine flu, reports Bloomberg.
Indian exporters are now hoping Indonesia can more than triple its meat imports from the South Asian nation to make up for the heavy losses this year.
Tighter border controls in China have hurt a black market meat trade that's normally worth about US$2 billion a year. India can't directly sell buffalo meat to China due to a ban by Beijing since 2001 following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
China, the biggest consumer of pork, has boosted beef and other meat imports as consumers seek alternatives following the deadly swine flu that's killed millions of pigs.
Indian shipments of buffalo meat and offal to China via Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand and Hong Kong, has slumped 23 per cent from a year earlier to 14,645 containers this year to October, according to data compiled by the All India Meat and Livestock Exporters Association.
Government figures showed exports to Vietnam, India's biggest buyer, dropped 34 per cent to 202,873 tons in the six months ended in September.
Profits of Indian shippers have fallen 15 per cent to 20 per cent so far in 2019 compared with a year earlier because of a drop in overseas sales, said Fauzan Alavi, vice president of the association. 'We need to find alternative markets until the time we get direct access to China,' he said.
WORLD SHIPPING
Indian exporters are now hoping Indonesia can more than triple its meat imports from the South Asian nation to make up for the heavy losses this year.
Tighter border controls in China have hurt a black market meat trade that's normally worth about US$2 billion a year. India can't directly sell buffalo meat to China due to a ban by Beijing since 2001 following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
China, the biggest consumer of pork, has boosted beef and other meat imports as consumers seek alternatives following the deadly swine flu that's killed millions of pigs.
Indian shipments of buffalo meat and offal to China via Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand and Hong Kong, has slumped 23 per cent from a year earlier to 14,645 containers this year to October, according to data compiled by the All India Meat and Livestock Exporters Association.
Government figures showed exports to Vietnam, India's biggest buyer, dropped 34 per cent to 202,873 tons in the six months ended in September.
Profits of Indian shippers have fallen 15 per cent to 20 per cent so far in 2019 compared with a year earlier because of a drop in overseas sales, said Fauzan Alavi, vice president of the association. 'We need to find alternative markets until the time we get direct access to China,' he said.
WORLD SHIPPING