At least in the short term, Entrepreneurs in the meat import and distribution sector do not see a much higher income than the current one from Paraguayan beef cuts at prices that allow the consumer to access that protein at a lower cost as a viable solution. to that produced in the country, whose value increased 25% since the end of January.
In Brazil, where the largest amount of imported beef comes from, farms and meat prices are similar to those in the local market.
In Paraguay, the other supplier, although the value of cattle has fallen and is well below the price of the farm in Uruguay, production and market conditions have been created that have allowed producers to retain their animals until the price they are interested
The Paraguayan industry does not have a significant supply of livestock nor does it have large surpluses of meat to divert to a market like the Uruguayan.
From Uruguay, moreover, you pay less than what other buyers who source in that country payas they do from Chile and Israel.
The feeling that since meat is expensive here you will find cheap meat in Paraguay is currently unsupportedsaid an importer. Suddenly later that changes, everything is very dynamic and volatility is commonhe added.
This Friday, at a press conference, the Minister of Livestock, Fernando Mattos mentioned that given the fall of the Russian market for Paraguayan exporters “surely there will be opportunities there, surely the private ones are negotiating”.
An alternative that transcended the closing of the last week is that it can be used an important stock of Paraguayan meat that remains in the port of Montevideo, as it cannot continue its transfer to Russia.
Everything is a consequence of the fact that the shipping companies, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, interrupted the transfers to avoid inconsequential steps and avoid expenses.
One of the sources consulted by The Observer specified that it is very difficult for that to crystallizeconsidering the existing sanitary and commercial regulations, which establish, for example, that the meat must have a certificate from the industrial origin indicating the destination, in addition to meat with specific labeling in boxes and internal packaging.
The Russian market is the second most relevant for Paraguayan meat, means 35% of placements, with businesses carried out by only two large industries, Minerva and Concepción (between the two they account for 60% of the work in that country). These companies continue to place supplies in other markets and in future business, it is convenient for them to redirect shipments to other destinations, not to Uruguay, due to price issues. The rest of the industries in Paraguay are not affected by what is happening in Europe.
In another order, With the purpose of facilitating the population’s access to low-cost animal protein, while beef is expensive, the usefulness of creating more fluidity in the granting of import permits for poultry meat and bone-in pork meat was suggested..
Imports so far in 2022
The import of beef, measured in volume, increased by 5.2% in the period January-February 2022compared to the records of those same months of 2021, advancing from 3,526 to 3,709 tons, based on data from the National Meat Institute (INAC).
Meat was received only from two markets: 2,870 tons from Brazil (77.4%) and 839 from Paraguay (22.6%).
1,800 tons entered in January and 1,909 in February with an investment of US$ 17.3 million.
So far in 2022, the ton of imported beef entered at a value of US$ 4,668, above the US$ 4,125 that was averaged in January-February of last year (13.1% more).
56% of what entered was cuts from hindquarters, 26.3% cuts from forequarters, 16.7% cuts (trimmings) and the rest other products.
Considering the total meat entered in January-February 2022, beef is 37% of the total, with a greater weight of pork meat (59.6%) and a lower weight of poultry (3.4%).
The data
The trade balance in the category of beef to and from Uruguay is widely favorable to the country, given that in January-February 90,705 tons of beef were exported (68% to China) for US$440.7 million, at a average of US$ 4,859 per ton.
