Argentina, China officials to meet over beef ban

SHANGHAI, China (Reuters) -- Argentine agricultural officials will meet their Chinese counterparts to try to calm concerns over Argentine beef after a foot-and-mouth scare, Argentina's President said on Monday.

"We have arranged for our Secretary for Agriculture and ambassador to meet China's Vice-Minister for Agriculture in Beijing tomorrow," Argentina President Fernando De la Rua, in Shanghai on an official visit, said in Spanish through a Chinese interpreter.

"I believe all doubts will be cleared and our bilateral relations will not be affected," he said.

China said earlier this month it had slapped a temporary ban on the import of live cloven-foot animals and their products from Argentina, the world's fourth largest beef exporter, following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease there.

A spokesman from the State Administration for Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine had said the ban was issued in late August, but did not say how long it was expected to last.

The latest official customs figures show China imported live animals and meat products worth $17.7 million from Argentina in the first seven months of this year.

De la Rua said he hoped to export large amounts of beef to China after assuring Beijing that Argentina had taken measures to eradicate the virus.

In August 3,500 cattle in Argentina were slaughtered after a handful of cattle were found to carry antibodies for the foot-and-mouth virus. The disease does not affect humans, but is highly contagious and difficult to eradicate from herds.

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