Confinement: costs fall, but still remain at a high level

The costs of cattle confinement activities declined throughout the second and third quarters of 2025, mainly driven by the drop in prices of animal diet inputs. The survey is from the Center for Advanced Studies in Applied Economics (Cepea), in partnership with Tortuga/DSM. Since April, expenses on feeding and supplementation have been falling consecutively. Accumulated until August, the retraction was 15.5%, alleviating some of the pressure on cattle ranchers. The cost of lean cattle, which represents the largest share in the confinement index, had little change during the period. In this regard, the most significant drop was recorded only in August. Overall, the inflation of confinement costs declined by 7.6% from March to August. Despite the slowdown, the index remains at one of the highest levels in the historical series, which began in 2018. While costs slowed down, prices for fat cattle ended September in decline, a movement considered atypical for the period. Traditionally, ...