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The crowd rushes around the butcher's stall and French charcuterie to taste French beef. © RFI / Stephane Lagarde

After 17 years of embargo, a first container of French beef arrived in China on Tuesday. More than a ton of Charolais meat has been delivered to the Chinese giant e-commerce Alibaba. A highly anticipated return of steak made in France, on the occasion of the first international import fair in Shanghai. Reportage.

With our special correspondent in Shanghai, Stéphane Lagarde

" The meat that has just arrived is an exceptional meat, it comes from flocks raised outside, grazing grass, without antibiotics, without growth products. "

He speaks like the journal of RFI in easy French, Didier Guillaume. The French Minister of Agriculture wants to be understood by the many Chinese journalists present at the French butchery booth of the Shanghai fair.

" A natural animal raised in a natural environment. And so a very tender meat, very tasty at the palace and that will ignite the taste buds of the Chinese, "continues the minister.

And quality meat, it grills right next door. A few pounds are to be enjoyed in Shanghai, everything else will be sold online by Alibaba. A little over a ton of French meat, a drop of water in the nearly 1.5 million tonnes of beef imported to China last year.

For Dominique Langlois, President of Interbev, the National Association of Interprofessional Livestock and Meat, this is just the beginning:

" It's a great day for the beef industry," he says. After 17 years of work, the Chinese market is open . With this first delivery of a ton and a half that arrived this afternoon at Beijing, we are in the startup phase, sampling. For the moment, two slaughterhouses have been selected, but it is hoped that there will be five more. With the sale on the internet, it is also the discovery of a new market. We met the manager of Alibaba. It is a service 24 hours a day, delivery within one hour. And a Chinese can now enjoy a quality French steak at home, it's wonderful. "

The president of Interbev has tears in his eyes. In front of the tricolor entrecote, a tide of cell phones records the moment. " Look at people using the pan directly," enthuses Dominique Langlois. It's very successful. " I wanted to know, what is it like sauce? asks a photographer from China News Agency. " It's Bearnaise. Béarnaise sauce to accompany Charolais meat ", answers Mr. Langlois.

" We have 32,000 farmers who are members of the cooperative group," explains Nicolas Escamez, Terrena Group, the leading French agri-food cooperative. And because we are a cooperative group, we have the advantage of controlling the entire chain from the farm to the consumer's plate, from the fork to the fork or rather to the baguette. This first ton is important. The meat comes from the Loire countries. It will be sold online, so we will have very quick returns from consumers. We preferred quality to volume. For the moment, we are two to have received approval : Eilvia, our beef subsidiary, and Bigard group which is the number 1 steak on the French market, we are number 2. "

From the fork to the baguette, two French slaughterhouses have for the moment received approval, others knock on the door to get the precious shot of buffer. Hoping that this first delivery will make a "beef effect" on Chinese consumers.

► (Re) listen and (re) read: China dreams of beef and dreams of French breeders ( Chronicle of raw materials )

They are numerous to photograph the French stand of butchery and charcuterie. © RFI / Stephane Lagarde