MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguayan meat production set to achieve historic profits in 2021

Martín also addressed future maket demands with extra tariff barriers, which may be related to climate change or new diseases.

Paraguayan livestock traders foresee profits near the US $ 2 billion by the end of a most favourable 2021 for the activity, National Service for Animal Quality and Health (Senacsa) José Carlos Martín announced over the weekend in Asunción.

During “Senacsa Night” at Expo 2021, Martín explained that all meat export items -beef and its offal, pork and its offal, poultry meat and its offal, as well as products and by-products of animal origin- are expected to yield un unprecedented US $ 2 billion income, which would represent a 70% growth compared to 2020 figures.

These figures could have been much better, had the first semester of 2021 not been Paraguay's worst in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, analysts explained.

The year 2021 will be a historical record in livestock exports, with a 70% foreign trade growth compared to the previous year, Martín told the country's leading business people in all areas of livestock production, meat processing and national agriculture.

Martín also highlighted the combined efforts by public and private sectors in health care which were developed with the Rural Association of Paraguay, through the organization Fundassa, which have been making constant progress since 2004 and now the results were to be noticed.

The official hoped for this joint work to continue pushing the entire sector upwards, “for the good of the country's economy and development.”

Fundassa head Daniel Prieto highlighted the good achievements of vaccination drives against foot-and-mouth disease, while Martín also underscored Paraguay was the first country to adhere to the initiative of a regional vaccine bank (Banvaco), with a view to the future possible lifting of vaccination, to obtain the certification of FMD free country without vaccination.

Martín also addressed future market demands with extra tariff barriers, which may be related to climate change or new diseases, while he also praised the technical work carried out by Agriculture and Livestock Minister Santiago Bertoni and its importance in the defence of the region's meat production system with regards to future international debates at the United Nations' world food conference.