August 26, 2008

The first shipment of US beef was sold last Friday (August 22) by a chain of Santiago de Chile supermarkets, diversifying the country's meat sources.

Back in April, the US also supplied Chile with chicken and turkey. So far this year, twelve full containers of frozen broilers and turkey have arrived in Chile and reportedly with a good demand from Santiago consumers.

Chile and US have recently drawn a free trade agreement which eliminated tariffs on most items of bilateral commercial exchange.

Chile, which is a net importer of beef, has as its main supplier, Paraguay, which has replaced traditional providers such as Argentina and Brazil. Argentina's beef exports seriously dropped after the farmers/government conflict.

Brazil also suffered several setbacks with outbreaks of foot and mouth disease which have limited exports.

Uruguay which has been another option has become too expensive for Chile. Uruguayan quality beef and with the most serious sanitary record in Mercosur, has great demand from the EU, Russia, the US, Canada and Mexico.