Argentina's Jan-Sept beef production hits 20-year high

 

 

Argentina's s cattle slaughter so far this year hit the highest level seen over the past two decades as ranchers continued to thin herds, the beef industry chamber known as Ciccra said in a report Monday (November 2).

 

The country slaughtered about 12.24 million cattle in the January-to-September period, up 11 percent on the year, according Ciccra.

 

Of concern, the female slaughter rate was about 50 percent during the period, well above the estimated 43 percent rate necessary to maintain herd size. The herd culling has been going on uninterrupted for three years, Ciccra said.

 

 

Analysts expect there to be beef shortages or steep price hikes next year due to the decreased herd size.

 

Argentina produced 2.67 million tonnes of beef during the first nine months of the year, 11.6 percent higher than the same period a year earlier, according to Ciccra.

 

Beef consumption totalled 2.2 million tonnes between January and September, up 5.1 percent from the year-earlier period. In per-capita terms, consumption shot up 4.1 percent to over 73 kilograms (161 pounds)--the highest level in at least the last 15 years--Ciccra said. Argentines lead the world in per-capita beef consumption.

 

The increased slaughter rate is due to a number of factors, including drought in many areas over the winter, which led farmers to send animals to market or to feedlots, increased use of government-subsidized feedlots, and a plunge in activity in March, May and June 2008, when a farm protest against government tax policies limited the commercialization of cattle.

 

Ranchers also complain that government intervention in the market has stunted prices and fuelled the shift away from cattle.

 

Argentina is one of the world's leading beef exporters and shipments hit a 2009 peak in September, driven by the high slaughter rate and government encouragement of overseas sales.

 

Exporters shipped 58,204 tonnes of fresh and processed beef in September, up from 42,704 tonnes a year earlier, according to the latest data from the animal health and sanitation service, Senasa.

 

September's beef exports were valued at US$108 million, down from US$222 million a year ago due to falling prices.

 

Shipments of fresh and processed beef during the first nine months of the year totalled 421,721 tonnes, up from 273,383 tonnes a year earlier. The value of those exports totalled US$1.4 billion, up from US$1.2 billion during the first nine months of 2008, according to Senasa.

 

Russia was the leading destination for fresh beef exports so far this year, buying 101,171 tonnes out of the total 259,392 tonnes shipped. Chile was a distant second with 30,586 tonnes.

 

The beef chamber also complained that the government has so far failed to distribute the lucrative Hilton Quota of pricey, low tax beef exports to the European Union, jeopardising companies' abilities to meet the quota over the next year. Instead, the government has just granted a few advance permits to a few companies considered "allies," Ciccra said.