Ricardo João Santin, the head of ABPA, the association of Brazilian producers of meat, considers that Sino-Brazilian engagement in the business of protein from animals amounts to a long-term, win-win partnership, Xinhua says.

Mr Santin said so in an interview, according to a report carried by the Chinese government-run news agency on Wednesday.

“Brazil provides China with good and safe meat products to complement China’s domestic supply in a sustainable way,” he said.

ABPA looks forward to using its representative office in Beijing, which opened three years ago, to show Chinese more Brazilian brands of meat, Xinhua quotes Mr Santin as saying.

Figures given by ABPA in January indicate that China bought half of all the pork Brazil exported last year, buying 533,700 tonnes or 3.9 per cent more than the year before.