MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Palermo Show opened in Buenos Aires

A red Aberdeen Angus heifer was the first to access the Palermo grounds in Buenos Aires where Argentina's main agriculture and livestock show opened Thursday and will extend to August 2.

The 119th Palermo international show this year will be hosting over 400 stands, a hundred of them with farm equipment, plus tens of others related to different aspects of the booming agri-business as well as food and leisure outlets to cater an estimated million visitors.

The most traditional side of the show is the competition between the different breeds of bovines, sheep, horses, hogs, goats, the best of Argentina, and probably the most genetically advanced of the southern cone.

A total 4,000 animals have been registered to participate in the show which this year will also include cattle, sheep and horses from other Mercosur members given that this year's edition is international.

Following qualifications and nomination of the best animals, the show turns into a big livestock auction with significant sales. Last year auctions totalled almost the equivalent of two million US dollars and prices effectively paid in Palermo become a reference for the sector's regional spring sales.

However overall sales of the show are far greater since farmers usually come to Buenos Aires for their annual shopping and the agriculture equipment and industry suppliers' stands display their latest and best.

Another interesting aspect of the show is the conferences and debates chapter sponsored by the different exhibitors and the Argentine Agriculture Secretariat, besides all the business opportunities which this year includes a round of talks with representatives from ten countries and geared towards small and medium enterprises in the farming and food industry wishing to export.

The Argentine president is traditionally invited to the closing ceremony (August 2) when the two sides of the state of farming sector, --and mood--, are made public, that from the Agriculture Secretary and from the president of the Argentine Rural Society, the country's strongest farm lobby.

On this occasion apparently there's not much to complain about, expect for the hefty export taxes which grain farmers must pay but that so far have been partly compensated by the international bull market.

As international grain prices stabilize and Argentine costs adjust to an expanding economy, all other things being equal, the issue will certainly be on the table in August 2006.