A wave of speculation has hit the internet in China, suggesting that the heavily sanctioned Chinese electronics manufacturer Huawei has become China’s largest beef importer due to payments it received from Argentinian clients made in beef instead of cold, hard cash. Whether the new ranking is true or not has proven difficult to prove, but our investigation indicates Huawei has accepted beef as a form of payment in the past and may still do so.
Huawei did not publicize anything suggesting it achieved such an odd distinction for an electronics manufacturer, nor did any of China’s official media outlets, like Xinhua News Agency. However, media conglomerate Phoenix TV did release a video reporting that Huawei had become China’s largest beef importer.
In truth, Huawei is more than just a tech firm. In 2019, Reuters pointed out that the global company “still has elements of a family firm, with members of (Huawei founder) Ren's family playing key roles in web of side businesses, many of which have nothing to do with telecoms.”
Among those many side businesses, which cater mainly to Huawei employees and large corporate customers, is Shanghai Mossel Trade Co. This subsidiary sells imported foods and its own brand of wine. At the time of the Reuters report, Mossel’s president was none other than Ren Ping, Ren Zhengfei’s then 44-year-old son. Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou is also listed as a Mossel employee.
Digging even deeper, we learn that Huawei launched the Mossel brand after taking beef and wine from an Argentinian client as payment for cellular parts and equipment. The client couldn’t acquire the necessary funds in U.S. dollars or Chinese yuan, so it offered what it could.
The payment method has evidently become even more prevalent since the U.S. interest rate hike in 2022. As the foreign exchange of smaller countries dwindled to nothing, it became impossible for companies in these countries to obtain the U.S. dollars or yuan necessary to purchase the telecommunications and other electronic equipment they needed. Compounding the matter, in December 2023, China suspended its currency swap agreement with Argentina.
Argentinian telecom companies have plenty of currency, but it’s in pesos. Huawei could accept pesos, but inflation means it would need to spend that money immediately. Huawei was forced to accept payment of some sort from customers in those nations or forego their business entirely. Beef may not have a long shelf life, but it’s still more stable than the Argentinian peso, apparently.
According to recent reports, the Chinese e-commerce site Huawei Mall has opened a “Food Zone.” Customers can purchase Argentinian wine and beef, Chilean salmon, and more. Huawei reportedly sells Argentine beef wholesale and retail, thereby converting the only form of currency the South American country can offer into yuan.
Whether this has led to Huawei truly becoming China’s largest beef importer is impossible to say, absent disclosure from the Chinese government or Huawei itself. However, it’s definitely an interesting tale. There’s no question that Huawei is taking Argentine beef and foodstuffs from other countries as payment, and the scale of those sales just might be enough to push Huawei to the position of number one beef importer in China.
