Argentina: In February, meat exports and sales to China grew again, but at the cost of lost income and competition.

In February, the volume of beef exported by Argentine slaughterhouses grew again, despite all the competitiveness problems in the sector. According to what INDEC reports, sales totaled 51.5 million tons of product weight, which means close to 73,000 tons of bone-in beef. The amount is similar to that of January of this year, being February a month with fewer business days, it translates into a daily increase in business. Compared to the same month in 2022, when a period of very good sales to China began, volume growth was 7%. Shipments to that destination, which for a few years has been the largest buyer in the Southern Cone countries, accounted for almost 77% of the total exported, marking an increase of 3.4% compared to January. The increase in sales abroad, and especially to the largest customer in the country, has a lot to do with the increasing and anticipated departure of cows from the breeding fields due to the lack of pasture. Most of the meat shipped to the Asian giant ...