Uruguay's cattle supplies drop on severe drought

A severe drought from late 2008 has led to an 11-percent drop in Uruguay's cattle supplies in the first half of this year.

Cattle supplies in the first half of 2009 amounted to 1.28 million head.

Most of the decline was in steers, with supplies dropping 24 percent, while carcass weights were marginally lower. However, a three-percent increase in cow supplies has partly offset the decline in steer supplies.

The INAC projects Uruguayan beef production to fall about eight percent to 480,000 tonnes with a similar rate of decline anticipated in 2010.

This is largely due to the breeding herd being liquidated on poor pastoral conditions, reflected by a projection of a 29-percent decline in calf births to two million head in 2009.

In the first half of 2009, Uruguay's beef exports fell 14 percent to 188,300 tonnes, although beef shipments to the EU were largely maintained. Exports to the EU were 16-percent higher at the end of May, but fell by nearly 49 percent in June to less than 4,500 tonnes.