Argentina will not fully resume meat exports to the EU for the time being. The Argentine government has decided to extend the current restrictions on beef exports by another two months. A maximum of half of the meat production may be exported, but some popular meat cuts are still completely banned.
In May, the government halted all beef exports in an attempt to curb rising prices of the staple food in Argentina. Prices on the domestic market had increased by 76% year-on-year. A gradual reopening of the market was initiated in June with a quota system allowing 50% of the monthly volume.
The export restriction is meant to put a brake on the continuously rising meat prices in the domestic market. The Argentine economy is plagued by soaring inflation, ongoing for years. Inflation, one of the highest in the world, reached 29.1% between January and July, while the year-on-year price index increase was 51.8%, according to official data.
Now that a much larger share of the meat production must be sold domestically, prices have started to fall by a few percentage points. According to the latest report from the Chamber of Commerce and Meat Industry (Ciccra), retail meat prices in July fell by 0.9-2%, after an earlier increase of 8.2% in June 2021.
Argentina’s beef exports amounted to 897,500 tons last year, with a value of approximately 2.71 billion dollars. The country is the fourth largest beef exporter in the world and one of the largest consumers per capita.
The government has also banned exports for the rest of the year of seven beef cuts popular among Argentine consumers, including the key component “asado”, a cut of meat used for barbecuing. Meat consumption in the country has steadily decreased over recent years, from a peak of 69.3 kilograms per person in 2009 to just under 50 kilograms last year.