January 21, 2008

Argentina government extends beef export restrictions

The Argentinean government extended the beef export restrictions it placed since March 2006 to curb price increases in the local market.

The beef industry is currently allowed to export a maximum monthly average of 40,000 tonnes cwt of beef products, including processed products.

The export restrictions were imposed to ensure more beef on the domestic market and reign increasing food prices.

Argentina's beef export restrictions prompted the industry to export high value cuts, mainly chilled and frozen hindquarter cuts, to keep the operations profitable. This led to an increase of beef export prices by 25 percent from 2005 to 2006 and 36 percent from 2005 to 2007.

The beef processing industry saw a decrease in activity as exports of processed beef have plummeted in favour of unprocessed product.

Beef is a staple food item in Argentina, with per capita consumption the highest in the world, at 67.2 kilogramme/head in 2007.