An executive of Brazilian meat supplier Marfrig Global Foods has predicted that demand in China and other parts of Asia will keep the price of Brazilian beef high next year, but not as high as it is now, Reuters reports.

The news agency quotes Marfrig finance chief Marco Spada, as saying: “We have reached a new price level, with some room for a drop, though prices should remain high.”

Mr Spada said that if every Chinese ate 1 kg more beef a year, Brazilian beef exports would double.

“This is a structural effect. The per capita consumption in China was already increasing due to rising wages, and it accelerated after the African swine fever epidemic,” Reuters quotes Mr Spada as saying.

The association of Brazilian exporters of beef, Abiec, said last week that Brazil exported 410,444 tonnes of beef to China in the first 11 months of this year, 39.5 percent more than in the corresponding period last year, and it forecast that Brazil would export globally next year almost 2.07 million tonnes of beef, 13 percent more than this year, worth US$8.57 billion.