Booming South American Beef Trade Stumbles on Virus Upheaval

  • Argentine shipments struggle to find room in Chinese ports
  • Brazil exporters divert cargoes from Shanghai to other ports
Beef cattle eat at a feedlot in Argentina.Photographer: Erica Canepa/Bloomberg
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South American meat exporters, among the biggest beneficiaries of a pig-killing disease in China, are now seeing a sharp slowdown in trade with the Asian nation as the coronavirus disrupts shipments.

Argentina’s beef exports to China have almost ground to a halt as the virus restricts cargo handling in ports, Miguel Schiariti, who heads the nation’s meat industry group CICCRA, said Monday in a telephone interview.