By Ana Mano
Sao Paulo (Reuters) -China has approved 183 new Brazilian coffee companies to export products to the Chinese market, according to a social media post of the Chinese embassy in Brazil on Saturday.
The measure, a blessing for local exporters after the announcement by the US government of steep rates for Brazilian coffee and other products, came into force on July 30.
The new Chinese export permits are valid for five years, according to the post.
The 50% US rate on some Brazilian products starts on August 6.
The levy is a challenge for traders of raw materials and Brazilian coffee exporters, who have to find alternatives every year for the approximately 8 million bags that are sold to American coffee processors.
China is the top trading partner of Brazil in general, while the US is, among other things, a large copper of Brazilian beef and orange juice.
In June, the Brazilian coffee export to the US was a total of 440,034 bags of 60 kilos, 7.87 times more than the turnover of Brazil in China of nearly 56,000 bags that month, according to trade data collected by the industrial lobby Cecafe.
The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture and Cecafe did not have an immediate comment.
The customs authority of China could not be reached immediately because it was outside opening hours.
Brazil provides around a third of the American coffee question every year, a trade with a value of $ 4.4 billion in the 12 months ended in June.
(Reporting by Ana Mano in Sao Paulo and additional reporting by Ella Cao in Beijing; adaptation by Nick Zieminski)
