Businessmen lament the lack of Lula in China – 03/26/2023 – Market

After a confused morning in the Chinese capital, when part of the Brazilian entourage was still unaware of Lula’s absence, businessmen said that the president’s visit would have been important to symbolize the resumption of closer relations with China. But they add that talks with Chinese companies and officials will continue this week unchanged.

“It’s a pity, the presence would be very expressive to consolidate ties after the distance we’ve had in recent years, which has to be fixed”, says Etivaldo (Vadão) Gomes, founder of Frigoestrela and former federal deputy for the PP of São Paulo . “But it does not hinder the negotiations.”

After celebrating the resumption of Chinese meat imports, announced a few days ago in Beijing, the sector is now seeking to change protocols to facilitate business, for example, releasing the Brazilian product on the bone, like the Uruguayan one. “This was one of the subjects to be dealt with by us with Lula himself”, says Gomes. “It is necessary that Lula come soon.”

He and Márcio Rodrigues, from Masterboi, hope that Lula’s visit will now be rescheduled for May, as has been speculated. That’s when a world food fair takes place in Shanghai, which should bring back a good part of the delegation’s agricultural businessmen. “It is very important, the first post-pandemic fair, with producers from all over the world”, says Rodrigues.

Chinese importers, in last week’s conversations with Brazilian producers, were predicting a second half with the highest historical consumption of agricultural products, due to the recovery of the economy in China. Also due to other factors, such as research that would indicate, in the country’s market, young people switching from pork to beef.

Regarding Lula, adds Rodrigues, “expectations were high, it would have great significance, because the new government’s relationship with China is much healthier and it could facilitate openings”. In any case, “the minister [da Agricultura e Pecuária, Carlos Fávaro] surprised”, referring to the confirmation of the end of the Chinese embargo on Brazilian meat.

“We were cheering for Lula, but it didn’t get in the way,” says José Fernando Pinto da Costa, from Universidade Brasil, a private institution in São Paulo that is in Beijing looking for partnerships to create a higher education school focused on agribusiness. He would have already signed a first agreement with the University of Weifang, in the state of Shandong, “Mato Grosso of China”.

Pablo Machado, from Suzano Asia, a Shanghai subsidiary of Suzano Papel e Celulose, says he does not see Lula’s absence “as a cancellation, but a postponement” and that, “obviously, the president’s health needs to be safeguarded”. Like the others, he says that conversations continue, for example, with the Brazilian company seeking to meet the growing attention of Chinese companies for sustainability.

This is one of the focuses of the conference of the Brazil-China Business Council, part of the entourage’s schedule, which is held for the fourth, the 29th, in Beijing – after a meeting of the Chinese and Brazilian boards of CEBR.

Regarding Lula, underlines the president of the organization’s Brazilian section, ambassador Luiz Augusto de Castro Neves, “the agreements are being concluded”. He assesses that “what was lost was visibility, Lula would give much more prominence. A little of the shine is lost, but the important thing is that the content was preserved”.