MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguay headed for a record beef export year: 600 million USD

Paraguayan beef exports are scheduled to break all records reaching over 600 US dollars which represents a 25% jump over 2007 according to an article published in the country's “ABC Color”.

Meat plants and abattoirs are asking cattle farmers to invest in their herds to ensure an abundant supply for the industry which is going through a boom period. Paraguay's national herd is estimated in 11 million head of cattle. "I think this year we're going to break all export records if we keep the rate of the first quarter when we already had contracts for 240 million US dollars. I believe we can be just over 600 million US dollars by the end of 2008", said Maris Llorens, president of the country's Meat and Skins Sector Board. The highest record dates back to 2006 with 508 million US dollars. Last year shipments dropped slightly and the overall beef export was 483 million US dollars. Paraguay is waiting for the European Union to reopen its market to the country's beef by the end of the year, which would mean an additional boost for the industry. Meantime in neighboring Brazil the country's Institute of Geography and Statistics reported that abattoirs slaughtered 7.16 million head of cattle in the quarter, down from 7.96 million a year earlier. Brazil is the world's biggest beef exporter and its sales fell 10% in the first quarter from a year earlier after the European Union banned most imports and herds shrank. EU, which bought a quarter of Brazil's red meat in 2007, banned most of the imports this year on concern the country is failing to ensure animals are free of foot-and-mouth disease and demanding a stricter traceability system. Brazil's herd also declined after producers sold more heifers in recent years. Poultry processors in Brazil, the biggest exporter, slaughtered 1.18 billion birds, up 12% from 1.06 billion a year earlier, said the IBGE, as the statistics agency is known. Hog slaughtering rose 2.7% to 6.82 million animals from 6.64 million in the first quarter of 2007.