Jared Laureles and Alexia Villaseñor
La Jornada Newspaper
Thursday, December 11, 2025, p. 12
More than a year after the first case of screwworm was detected, the livestock sector has suffered economic losses of more than 700 million dollars, due to the fact that one million 200 thousand heads of cattle have stopped being exported after the closure of the northern border of Mexico, according to the National Conference of Livestock Organizations (CNOG).
Added to the above is a cumulative impact of 3 billion pesos for southern ranchers, who have to absorb the costs of transporting animals and treatments to prevent and control the plague.
Homero García de la Llata, president of the CNOG, explained that the inspection for the mobilization of cattle from the south to the center and north is between 1,500 and 2,000 pesos per head. He added that 2 million have already received this treatment, but “we are talking about a loss, an economic impact for ranchers in the south of the country close to 3.1 billion pesos,” he said.
In a press conference, he explained that to date at least 425 thousand heads of cattle are stranded in the states of Tamaulipas, Sonora, Chihuahua, Durango and Coahuila, which, if the border – closed since last July – is not reopened, are available for the national market.
He also highlighted that the livestock sector works together to eradicate the GBG plague and, in compliance with health protocols, more than 2.2 million heads of cattle have been mobilized from the south to the center-north of the country.
However, the president of the CNOG warned that some marketers have tried to evade health controls, which has led to the detection of cases outside the risk area such as Querétaro, Puebla, Morelos, Nuevo León and Jalisco.
More than 11,000 cases have been documented, he said, with the highest concentration in Chiapas, Oaxaca, southern Veracruz, Yucatán, Tabasco, Campeche and Quintana Roo. He acknowledged that there is under-reporting and called on ranchers to report any outbreak.
Likewise, he asked to stop the excessive import of foreign meat, mainly from Brazil, and to set a maximum quota of 70 thousand tons per year for countries without a free trade agreement.
