China will this year become, officially, a net importer of beef, albeit with foreign shipments still accounting for only a small proportion of the world's fourth-biggest market.

The country's beef imports, which tripled last year, will jump a further 30% to 30,000 tonnes in 2010, attracted by the market's high price, a briefing from US Department of Agriculture staff in Beijing said.

China's beef prices averaged RMB33.09 ($4.84) a kilogramme last year, 80% more than pork and well over twice the price of chicken.

Nonetheless, farmers still earn better returns from pig and poultry farming, thanks to firm feed costs and the relatively long production period, leaving output on course for a 4.6% fall this year.

Combined with the impact of Chinese beef's uncompetitive beef prices, this production slide will curb exports by 26% to 28,000 tonnes, falling behind imports.

Uruguay catches up 

Such reversal would represent a significant turnaround since two years ago, when exports outpaced registered imports by seven to one.

However, China is also believed to import a significant amount of beef, perhaps more than 100,000 tonnes, through unofficial channels, most coming from Brazil and the US.

China's beef market is, at some 5.5m tonnes a year, the world's fourth biggest, behind  those of America, Brazil and the European Union.

Herd rebuilding

The report added that China's imports of live cattle will also rise, by 25% to 45,000 head, as China continues the process of rebuilding its herd after a cull following the melamine scandal in 2008.

"The imports are needed to begin replacing some of the more than 1m dairy cows that were eliminated from China's dairy herd," the briefing said.

"Australia and New Zealand will continue to dominate live cattle supplies to China as imports of North American cattle are banned due to BSE."