The president of Plaza Rural and the meat chain: “We are maturing”

The one that is about to end “was a very challenging year, because we went through all the scenarios, with one that was almost euphoric in the first semester, then everything moderated in the middle of the year and then, towards the end of the year, the The market fell, even exaggeratedly for me”.

Still, he pointed out, “looking at the whole year, it was positive, it allowed us to work, it let us learn a lot and in that sense I think that the cattle ranch realized which is the way”.

On this reflection, he clarified: “We are clear that we are a price-taking country, we depend on that to a great extent and it became clearer than ever that to develop we must produce more, but above all better, with more qualitybecause with volumes we are not going anywhere”.

That, he added, “the Uruguayan cattle breeder, all of us who are in this business, have it very clear and once again it was noted that when the producer sees the signs that he needs, he goes to do things that way, for his benefit and of a lot of people.”

In such a dynamic, changing and demanding year, he pointed out, “Plaza Rural accompanied each challenge and I think we have done well, the whole team.”

We responded to a more dynamic and changing market, “which needed more options, that made us leave our comfort zone, which we did convinced and with great pleasure”he mentioned, alluding to the fact that since the middle of the year the number of auctions has increased each month.

“As always, each decision to change makes you want to and teaches you, it was a very well-made decision, which will have to have its adjustments, as in all things,” he said.

This change was very well taken “not only by our clients, but also by our colleagues and that shows you that you are on the right track.”

By 2023, “with good judgment, we projected a calendar fine-tuning things, based on a working group that goes beyond the directivewe are going to go the middle way and we will have the same activity with reserved dates, although at the moment they are not advertised in the case of the thinnest months of supply”.

Carlos de Freitas, President of Plaza Rural

“We are happy, we feel that as a group we have grown, matured and continue to contribute our drive so that the livestock has grown, surpassing the air holes that appeared in the second half of the year,” he said.

Regarding what is needed for the year that is beginning soon, he pointed out: “What Uruguay needs is stability, operation, extraction, that the machine never stops, because afterward the issue of values ​​is something that is always accommodated on the fly,” added.

With the focus on the seller

Regarding some differential goal, outlined to be met in the short term, he stated that “with our strategic partner, Banco de la República, we are working especially to be able to give the seller greater comfort, we have been able to provide many services to the buyer and obviously we are going to to continue doing so, but I think that we were missing progress together with the BROU in giving more accessibility to the money to that great protagonist of the business that is the seller”.

The consortium is made up of 15 desks.

A chain that matures

De Freitas also gave his opinion on how he has recently observed the livestock producer and the industrial businessman. And before analyzing each case, he considered: “I see the chain maturing, we are not yet integrated, but I do feel with joy that we are all maturing for the good of each one of those involved and of all as a whole.”

“I see the producer with the desire and ability to work that he always had. As I said, with clear signals it always responds and gives more than can be expected, takes technological packages and produces more and better, because that is good business. I give an example: the breeder, the important base but always the least developed, who has been submerged, changed enormously, he realized that it is a big business to give kilos to the calves. In a very simple ryegrass to plant and manage, depending on the area, one puts at least three calves per hectare, maybe four, which gain a kilo a day and that’s a lot, you just have to grab the calculator and do the math. Thus, calves of 200 kilos, 220 kilos are offered, which before was not the most common and which today is what is needed because the calves need a calf accustomed to going forward, to have significant gains and reach 360 kilos. and give the winterizer or corral an animal with 18 to 20 months suitable for wintering, and that is something that has come to fruition because it is good business for everyone, not by decree”.

About the industry, “it also has a great role to make everything work, I see an industry that has stopped complaining about the country’s costs in a country that is still expensive, it must be admitted, but a country that is struggling to open up better way in the markets, something fundamental, it is welcome that it is known that there are duties, that it is not enough to have open markets, that it be clear that making them cheaper is just as important, generating free trade agreements… it is unthinkable to think that Uruguay will grow closed , will grow open to the world”.

The industry, he added, “realized that it had to attack these costs, which are undoubtedly difficult to lower, let’s be honest, but it has developed very well, an industry of enormous prestige and credibility throughout the world, we have young industrialists, with a different head and that is an asset that the country has, it is something that we should all support”.

Of course, he mentioned, “in a market of free supply and demand, as we all want, no one doubts it, each one plays their game and gets their cut and it’s okay for that to happen, but looking at the glass half full, not the half glass empty, we have a very good industry, we have to be proud of that”.

He pointed out that in this market, coinciding with other players, “At Plaza Rural we have a very important function of bringing what each sector needswhoever has to produce must dedicate himself solely to producing and we walk alongside him and provide him with a service, the same with the industry, which requires different raw materials depending on the business it has and we must help to provide them”.

“Our great challenge is to be more and more professional, to be able to provide an ever better service”he concluded.

Some data

• Plaza Rural is a consortium that is made up of a group of 15 companies in the agribusiness sector.
• In the catalog prepared for the last auction of 2022, it was reported that in 20 years 3,376,518 cattle were marketed in 260 sales.
• Auction 261, which will be the first in the 2023 cycle, is scheduled for Wednesday the 1st and Thursday the 2nd of February.
• During 2022, 18 commercial instances were carried out between the usual ones and added differential ventures.

This year, since August, there have been two auctions in each month.