The high yield of the Huaxi breed will reportedly accelerate the development of China’s beef cattle industry and boost farmers’ income.

China’s proprietary Huaxi cattle, the culmination of meticulous breeding to produce optimal growth and high-quality meat, is entering the global value chain.
China and Laos are moving toward more sustainable cattle farming with a crossbreeding agreement that marks the first export of China’s coveted Huaxi cattle that are specifically grown to mature rapidly and produce high-quality meat.
The agreement focuses on crossbreeding local Lao cattle with high-quality breeds from China, utilizing advanced breeding techniques to improve growth rates and body size, meat quality for market demands, adaptability to the local environment, and economic benefits for farmers, the Lao News Agency reported on Thursday, citing a memorandum of agreement signed by both sides on Tuesday.
“As one project in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the partnership is an important step for China’s beef cattle seed industry in the international market, and it lays a solid foundation for the internationalization of China’s beef cattle seed industry,” said a statement from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS).
The Huaxi breed was independently developed in China over 43 years, and it holds proprietary intellectual property rights, with its growth performance and meat quality reaching international standards, according to CAAS.
The breed is adaptive to various climatic conditions, with a meat yield of 53.95 per cent per head. Bulls can grow to 900kg (1,984 pounds), while cows can reach 550kg.
As part of the partnership, China will provide Laos with 100,000 doses of frozen semen from the Huaxi breed – which was validated by the National Livestock Genetic Resources Committee in 2021 – as well as 10 Huaxi breeding bulls.
Scientists from CAAS have also developed China’s first genome-based beef cattle breeding chip, dubbed the “Cattle 110K” chip, and established a genome-wide selection and evaluation system for the Huaxi breed.
Several Huaxi cattle breeding centers have been built across the country, with a breeding population of 23,400 head. There are now 12 provinces promoting the breed, according to Xinhua.
The high yield of the Huaxi breed will reportedly accelerate the development of China’s beef cattle industry and boost farmers’ income.
Chinese scientists are also intent on enhancing the influence of China’s beef cattle breeding industry in the global value chain through the deepening of international cooperation by means of technology sharing, joint breeding, talent exchanges, demonstration farm construction and market cooperation, Xinhua added.
Meanwhile, China’s domestic beef prices remain sluggish, recently hitting their lowest level in about 11 years, due to supply-demand imbalances.
The average wholesale price of beef in China dropped to 57.22 yuan (US$7.90) per kilogram last week – a year-on-year decline of 17.2 per cent.
The China Animal Agriculture Association attributed the slump to a surfeit of imported beef, noting how inbound shipments grew eightfold over the 10 years leading up to 2023.
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