Sanderson Farms reports a drop in Chinese poultry purchases
China appears to be backing away from US chicken during COVID-19 recovery.The president of Sanderson Farms Inc, Lampkin Butts, says that China will be out of the market for US chicken in June as it recovers from the coronavirus crisis. The absence is a reversal from a recent spike in imports.
"China is out because they bought so much product. They were anticipating their economy reopening, which it has, but the restaurants are not back to anything close to normal."
Reuters reports that China lifted a nearly five-year ban on imports of US poultry in November after a fatal hog disease killed millions of pigs in the pork-loving country, raising its need to import meat.
Tensions between the US and China have increased more recently over Beijing's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.