China announced that it had opened its market to Brazilian dairy products, according to a communication sent to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, said Wednesday in Brasilia Minister Kátia Abreu.

The minister said that from now on Brazilian companies that wish to do so can have access to a market with the potential to import Brazilian dairy products, especially milk powder, cheese and butter, worth close to US$45 million.

Abreu, cited by the Brazilian press, said she would visit China next October in order to complete this process of opening up the Chinese market to Brazilian dairy products, after lengthy negotiations that started in 1996.

China is the world’s largest buyer of dairy products, with imports worth US$6.4 billion in 2014, equivalent to 14 percent of the US$47 billion traded worldwide. (macauhub/BR/CN)