MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

USDA forecasts Uruguay’s beef exports will increase to 400.000 tons in 2011

President Mujica gives the 1rst Prize-Hereford during the curently Prado Rural Show

Uruguay’s beef exports may rise by 2.6% next year as demand recovers from the global recession, according to a unit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Uruguay, the world’s seventh-largest beef exporter, may ship 400,000 metric tons overseas in 2011, up from an estimated 390,000 tons this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service said Wednesday in a report on its website.

Rising exports will spur a 4.8% drop in domestic consumption, to 200,000 tons in 2011, the agency said.

“Due to recovering purchasing power, Uruguayans are expected to continue eating large volumes of beef,” the FAS said in the report. Export markets “have been gradually recovering after the global economic crisis.”

Uruguay is expected to be the second-largest per-capita beef consumer this year, after Argentina, according to the USDA.

Anticipating a strong foreign demand for beef in the coming eighteen months the Uruguayan government has announced the launching of a campaign to promote the consumption of alternatives such as chicken.