Paraguay beef is not likely to boost tight US supply

Washington's decision to accept beef from Paraguay after 25 years will probably not change the overall volume of US imports, even at a time of tight supplies and high prices, due to a quota on shipments, US meat importers said. US beef prices set records this year after drought drove ranchers to reduce the country's herd to its smallest level in decades, and meat companies are relying more on imports to process into ground beef for hamburgers. Paraguay has not negotiated to sell beef to the US under its own quota agreement, so it must compete with other countries in the same situation to fill a group tariff-rate-quota, said Stephen Sothmann, executive director of the Meat Import Council of America. The quota for these countries, including Brazil, Ireland, Japan and Namibia, is about 65,000 metric tons annually with a tariff of 4.4 cents per kilogram, Sothmann said. Suppliers filled the quota early this year, he said. "There's typically now a pretty big race to get product in under ...