The Mexican government decided to release tax-free import quotas for beef and pork until the end of 2026. The measure is a complement to another established at the end of December, which removed both proteins from the Paquete Contra la Inflación y la Carestia (Pacic) — a Mexican program to lower food prices through tax exemptions.
For pork, there will be 51 thousand tons free of import duties. For beef, 70 thousand tons. The validity of these stipulated quotas is until December 31, 2026. These quantities are valid for all exporters, that is, it is not an individual quota for Brazil, but for all countries that export to Mexico, with the exception of those in the USA and Mexico.
According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s Agrostat platform, between January and November 2025, Brazil exported 74.3 thousand tons of pork and 113.2 thousand tons of beef. In revenue generated, there were R$181.4 million and R$618.9 million, respectively.
For Insper Agro professor Marcos Jank, Mexican quotas do not change the Brazilian meat market because they do not have a representative volume, however, it is worrying that countries now impose taxes and remove them without prior announcements or agreements. “The rules of the game no longer exist. Everything the WTO [Organização Mundial do Comércio] established, was lost,” he told CNN.
Meanwhile, Brazil is closely monitoring the safeguard measure adopted by China for imported beef, which provides for an additional tariff of 55% on volumes that exceed the quota of 1.1 million tons. The Brazilian government is negotiating so that shipments made until December 31, 2025 are not counted in this quota and is preparing proposals to absorb any volumes not used by other exporters. The official mission to China, initially scheduled for January, was postponed, but the expectation is that the topic will move forward before the visit or be addressed directly in bilateral meetings.
“The Chinese safeguard nao it is market protection as happens with Mexico now and Europe in other cases, it is consequence of very accelerated growth in our sales there, which ended up generating pressure and creating a declining local industry. This salvaguard aims to rebuild the local industry, but I doubt it will work,” said Jank. “The probability is that it will generate inflation due to shortages like what happened in the USA when Trump imposed his tariffs.”
Regarding the Chinese measure, the Association of Breeders of Mato Grosso (Acrimat) expressed concern about the risk that the cost of the surcharge would fall on livestock farmers. In a note, the entity defended that meatpackers avoid passing on losses to producers and warned against speculative practices, highlighting that large exporters are able to redirect volumes to other markets without penalizing those at the gate.
