(Yicai Global) June 23 -- A UK pork producer and Brazilian beef exporter have voluntarily halted meat exports to China because of coronavirus cases among their workers, the General Administration of Customs said on its website today.

Brazil's Agra Agroindustrial De Alimentos, better known as Agra Foods, has freely halted beef shipments to China after an outbreak of the virus among its staff, while a processing plant owned by Tulip, the UK’s biggest pork producer, has done the same, China’s CAC said.

Brazilian and UK authorities notified China’s GAC yesterday, saying they will continue to pay attention to the prevention and control status of all registered meat packers that supply China and promptly inform the Chinese side of any developments.

China, the world’s biggest meat importer, took in about 2.1 million tons of pork and 1.7 million tons of beef last year, representing gains of 75 percent and 60 percent respectively over the previous year. The UK is one of China’s main pork suppliers, while Brazil is one of its main sources of beef, according to GAC data.

The Chinese customs agency has updated its whitelist of imported meat products to suspend supplies from the two companies.

Editor: Armour