Not easy for Nepal to sell buffalo meat to China

Following the visit of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to China earlier this month, there was talk that export of buffalo meat to China was on the agenda. If so, not enough homework was done before Nepal raised the possibility. 

Some traders in Kathmandu claim there is a growing demand for buffalo meat in China, and there have been reports of slaughterhouses in the eastern Tarai where buffalo meat is processed specifically for the purpose of smuggling it to China through various routes.

Chinese media do report the seizure of undocumented buffalo meat inbound to China from Vietnam, there is no evidence that the contraband is originally from Nepal.

Finding out if there is indeed a growing demand for water buffalo meat in China is not easy. The annual Chinese customs import data categorise buffalo meat (not visceral organs like liver, intestine, tongue, etc.) together with other cattle raised for meat under the category 'meat of bovine animal'.

Furthermore, an average Chinese person does not distinguish between buff and beef as separate products. For the average Chinese, beef/牛肉 (shuǐ niú ròu) is interchangeable with buffalo meat. Shuǐ/水 means water in Mandarin.

With the growth of China's economy and rising living standards, the demand for bovine meat is indeed shooting up. Due to the limited arable land and the local bovine population, ever larger quantities of beef/buff need to be imported every year.

China was already importing $2.52 billion worth of beef in 2016, and this grew to $17.76 billion in 2022. The top five source countries were Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, New Zealand and Australia. 

The export of beef from Nepal is prohibited, but water buffalo meat export to China could be economically viable. But a great deal more homework needs to be done on the legal or technical infrastructure aspects.

The General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) has strict rules for imports of 18 food items, including meat products. These not only relate to how the meats are produced or manufactured, but also ensure that the food safety management system of the exporter country is equivalent to Chinese standards.

Which means that even a state-of-the-art Nepali slaughterhouse following safety and hygiene practices in frozen meat production has little to no chance of exporting to China unless the GACC has certified it. 

Furthermore, there are exhaustive GACC standards in the evaluation and confirmation process, which include confirming legal provisions, animal and plant diseases, competence of food safety supervisory, overall safety and hygiene control in food production, processing, transportation and storage, competence in export food safety, food protection, traceability and recall system, emergency response preparedness, technical support capabilities, so on and so forth.

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While there are provisions in Nepal for food safety and animal and plant epidemics, there is a wide implementation gap for safety and hygiene control in food production, transportation and supplies. For example, the Slaughterhouse and Meat Examination Act 1999 makes the licensing of slaughterhouses and examination of the meat mandatory, but looking at meat shops even in Kathmandu, it is clear how lax enforcement is.

The most recent epidemic of the lumpy-skin disease in cattle and the shortage of vaccines is indicative of Nepal's lack of preparedness in responding to the animal and plant epidemics, and the country needs to do a lot more to qualify as an exporter country for food products including bovine meats.

However, assuming that Nepal is planning to export water buffalo meat to China, it must quickly request an evaluation by the GACC -- even if such an exercise will likely result in the Nepalese food security management system not meeting the standards.

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Doing so would have practical benefits in having recommendations from the GACC as rectification instructions would also indicate the gaps, addressing which could strengthen technical cooperation between Nepal and China, at least in animal husbandry, and have benefits for Nepal’s own domestic meat industry.

Once Nepal moves toward standards-based food production, transportation, storage and security, it could then apply to be registered as an exporter in the GACC registration system.

Should Nepal pass the GACC evaluation and confirmation assessment, it can expect Chinese investors to be willing to set up meat and other food production and processing facilities here. According to a 2021 FAO estimate, Nepal has 2.32 million hectares of land underutilised which could potentially be developed as pasture.

Increased investment in food production and processing industries in turn can have trickle-down benefits to farming populations, especially in the hinterland where youth are migrating away from the land due to the lack of opportunities.

What is needed is political will, integrity and a determination to follow through. Things will eventually fall in place once we realise the gap and work to fill them. Or we can continue on being the country with the most bilateral MOUs with no practical significance except junkets for bureaucrats and politicians.

Nirab Gyawali is a Nepali lawyer working to be the first Mandarin-speaking transaction lawyer in Kathmandu.