Brazil’s beef exports to Mainland China and Hong Kong have increased by 65 percent year-on-year in the first six months of 2016; to an aggregate of 265,800 tonnes, news agency Bloomberg reported last week, quoting data from the industry.

The media outlet added that Brazil’s beef exports to all countries rose by 12 percent year-on-year in the first half 2016, to 736,000 tonnes.

According to Bloomberg, Brazil has already surpassed Australia as China’s number one foreign supplier of beef.

Starting in December 2012, Mainland China had imposed an embargo on beef from the South American nation. It followed a suspected case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy – more commonly known as ‘mad cow disease’ – in the Brazilian state of Paraná. The import ban was officially revoked in November 2014 and Mainland China began to buy Brazilian beef in June 2015.