MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine conglomerate eyes Chilean beef industry

One of Argentina's main conglomerates is planning to invest heavily in the Chilean meat industry purchasing one of the country's largest abattoirs, extensive ranch land with cattle in the south and a biotechnology business to improve the quality and performance of beef cattle.

The group is Perez Companc that rates 451 at world level with 1.7 billion US dollars and which in 2002 sold all its oil and gas interests in Argentina to Petrobras.

In Chile the targets are the Frigorifico O'Higgins, Friosa, Chile's second abattoir of hogs and fifth of cattle plus Patagonia Beef & Lamb which manages most of the cattle in Aisen Region in the south of the country.

Perez Companc interest is based on Chile's excellent breeding sanitary status with access to all world markets, plus the network of trade agreements and reputation of reliability the country has built over the years.

Another area is biotechnology in association with a Chilean company that specializes in genetics directed to improve the quality of beef cattle.

On the side Mr. Perez Companc also purchased a Chilean chain of ice cream shops "Munchi" with over twenty outlets in Santiago's main suburbs and currently expanding overseas.

The moment chosen by the Argentine conglomerate for approaching the Chilean market seems appropriate since farmers are complaining bitterly about the strong value of the Chilean currency which has made them loose competitiveness in international markets while their costs in US dollars in the last twelve months have soared an average 27%, according to the Chilean Agriculture-Livestock Association.