China renews expired export licenses for US beef plants, Chinese customs website shows (updated)

Tyson Foods

15/05/2026 17:45

Adds industry, analyst comments in paragraphs 4 and 11

By Tom Polansek and Daphne Zhang

May 15 (Reuters) -
China renewed export licenses that had expired for more than 400 U.S. beef plants, the Chinese customs website showed on Friday, after President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping concluded their summit in Beijing.

A casualty of the recent trade war between Beijing and Washington, U.S. beef exports to China peaked at $1.7 billion in 2022.

More than 400 U.S. plants lost export eligibility over the past year as Beijing's permissions, granted between March 2020 and April 2021, lapsed without the customary renewals, accounting for roughly 65% of the once-registered facilities.

"China's renewal of U.S. beef establishments is excellent news for the U.S. beef industry and for the customers in China who are anxious to resume purchases," said Dan Halstrom, CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, an industry group.

The federation confirmed China granted five-year registration extensions to 425 overdue U.S. beef plants and new five-year registrations for 77 additional U.S. facilities.

The White House told ranchers in recent weeks that export licenses would be discussed at the summit.

Reuters reported on Thursday that the long-awaited licenses had been approved as U.S. and Chinese leaders met, before Chinese customs appeared to halt the clearances hours later.

LITTLE U.S. BEEF TO EXPORT

On Friday, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said both sides had agreed to address concerns regarding market access for agricultural products.

Though welcomed by American producers, China's approvals were not expected to result in a surge of exports from the U.S., where supplies are tight and prices are soaring.

U.S. beef prices set records this year due to strong domestic demand and as the nation's cattle herd dwindled to a 75-year low. Earlier this week, Trump was considering executive actions to facilitate increased beef imports to cool domestic prices.

"We don't really have the supply to be exporting right now," said Austin Schroeder, analyst for commodity advisory firm Brugler Marketing & Management.

Cargill CEO Brian Sikes was among U.S. CEOs accompanying Trump on his visit to China. Facilities owned by Cargill, a major U.S. producer of ground beef, and other meat companies were included in the approvals.

(Reporting by Daphne Zhang in Beijing and Tom Polansek in Chicago; Editing by Mark Porter, Rod Nickel)

((Thomas.Polansek@thomsonreuters.com))