China’s Bull Semen Market: A Global Livestock Timeline

Reuters: China is back, but only the best will do 2026 reopening

Reuters reported that China is buying bull semen again after a near halt that had blocked imports from the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia. Imports are limited to semen from the best 10% of bulls in the producing country, according to government officials, diplomats and genetics companies. Australian and Canadian suppliers are ramping up shipments and the United States and Britain could be approved soon, industry sources said (Reuters; syndicated copy: Daily Waadaa).

An expert panel reviews each shipment for more than four months to check the rule, and some shipments have been only partly approved. China’s agriculture and commerce ministries did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

92,573 straws arrive by the end of August 2026 reopening

By the end of August China had received 92,573 straws worth around $700,000 from Australia and Canada combined, Chinese customs data show, far below the roughly 10 million straws a year imported before the curbs (Reuters). ABS Australia expects to ship about 200,000 straws over the coming year of Wagyu, Angus, Holstein and Jersey semen, more than it sends to all other countries combined.

Australian bull semen ships to China for the first time since 2021 2026 reopening

ABC Rural reported that 24,000 straws had gone to China in April and May, the first Australian cattle-genetics exports to China since 2021: 10,000 in April and 14,000 more in a second shipment. The deal covers Wagyu, Jersey and Holstein semen. China had closed the door on Australian cattle genetics in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, having been Australia’s biggest market for cattle semen and embryos before that (ABC News).

ABS China’s commercial director said farmers want better productivity and beef quality, with strong demand for premium beef in hot-pot restaurants and for Wagyu sires used over dairy cows.

Customs re-accredits an Australian export facility Policy

China’s General Administration of Customs re-accredited the Total Livestock Genetics export facility at Camperdown in south-west Victoria, paving the way for exports to resume. Because of withholding periods before semen can leave the facility, the first shipment did not go until April 2026 (ABC News). A Chinese audit team had visited the facility, a level of scrutiny few other importers apply, ABS’s Australian head told Reuters (Reuters).

Recorded imports fall to US$7.6 million Trade data

World Bank WITS, drawing on UN Comtrade, records China’s 2025 bovine-semen imports at $7.61 million and 1,219,900 items, all from the United States (WITS 2025). That is about 8% of the 2023 value. The 2025 entry lists a single partner, so it may be incomplete; treat it as the recorded figure, not a final total.

One supplier after another is halted Policy

Reuters reported that China halted live-animal and semen imports from one nation after another between 2019 and 2025, and curtailed imports of cattle embryos and live animals; many closures coincided with political confrontations such as the Trump administration’s trade war and frosty relations with Canberra and Ottawa. Some Chinese producers smuggled in semen or live cattle through neighbouring countries including Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Vietnam, a dozen people in the industry said (Reuters).

The causes and dates differ by country, so this was a rolling series of closures rather than a single embargo.

Imports fall to US$58.2 million Trade data

WITS records China’s 2024 bovine-semen imports at $58.23 million and 9,505,610 items. The United States supplied $53.54 million of that, Germany $3.21 million, France $1.08 million, Italy $0.28 million and Argentina $0.10 million (WITS 2024).

Imports peak at US$100.4 million Trade data

China’s recorded bovine-semen imports reached $100.40 million in 2023, of which $89.08 million came from the United States, followed by Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and France (WITS 2023). Values had climbed from $42.0 million in 2019 (WITS 2019). WITS reports quantity in kilograms up to 2023 and in items from 2024, so volumes before and after cannot be compared directly.

Genetics self-sufficiency becomes a national-security priority Policy

Reuters reported that China declared self-sufficiency in animal genetics a national-security priority in 2021, identifying cattle breeding as a critical weak spot. By 2026 the government had invested millions of dollars in local breeding centres, but local genetics still lag Western countries, industry sources said (Reuters). Recorded imports were $81.4 million that year, still dominated by US semen (WITS 2021).

China adopts genomic selection for young beef bulls Breeding science

According to a 2021 Ministry of Agriculture article, China began using genome-wide selection to choose young beef bulls in 2017 and first published a China beef-cattle genomic selection index in 2020, using a reference population of 2,300 animals. It reported 36 bull stations with more than 2,500 beef and dual-purpose bulls and annual frozen-semen capacity of 44 million doses, which it said largely met domestic demand (Ministry of Agriculture).

The same article says a gap with leading countries remains, and the 2021 plan aims to extend genomic evaluation to most core herds.

National beef-cattle genetic improvement plan, 2011–2025 Policy

The Ministry of Agriculture issued the National Beef Cattle Genetic Improvement Plan (2011–2025). Its own situation review said that in 2010 China had more than 30 beef bull stations and about 1,300 bulls in semen collection, sold more than 15 million doses of frozen semen, and relied on imports for most sires; it also warned that indiscriminate crossbreeding was muddling herd genetics (National Beef Cattle Improvement Center; Ministry of Agriculture).

Genomic selection is proposed, then adopted by breeders Breeding science

The Ministry of Agriculture article credits Meuwissen with proposing genome-wide selection in 2001 and the American Angus Association with applying it first in 2014, after which other developed countries followed. Its stated benefit is earlier selection, shorter generation intervals, faster genetic progress and lower breeding cost (Ministry of Agriculture).

Cattle shift from draught animals to beef producers Breeding science

Chinese beef-cattle genetic improvement began in the 1960s, according to the National Beef Cattle Improvement Center (NBCIC). The Ministry of Agriculture article says cattle were long used as working animals and began to be raised for beef only from the 1970s, about a century later than in the West; imported Simmental, Charolais, Angus and Limousin were crossed with local cattle to create new breeds (Ministry of Agriculture).

Antibiotics and freezing make artificial insemination practical Breeding science

Pioneers such as Ilya Ivanov worked on artificial insemination from 1899, but Wikipedia notes that antibiotics added to semen, first proven with penicillin in 1946, and new freezing and thawing techniques made it far more practical in the livestock industry (Wikipedia). Stations then kept bulls and shipped their semen to many farms, as in this Finnish AI bull hall photographed in 1964.