MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguay: Beef exports reach all-time high

Paraguay's booming meat exports look poised to grow stronger when the US market can be served

Over 283,214 tons of beef have been exported by Paraguay between January and October 2021, in what has become a historical record for the country, according to the National Service for Animal Quality and Health (Senacsa).

A Senacsa detailed report released Tuesday also showed Paraguay has shipped 283,214,243.57 kilos of meat worth US $ 1,372,943,994.63 in the first ten months of 2021.

The document also revealed a total of 50,747,649.06 kilos of bovine giblets worth US $ 104,527,687.40 had been place abroad, while 117,344 heads of cattle have been slaughtered to yield 28,731,587 kilograms of beef.

The main destinations were Chile (116,887,663.20 kilos), Russia (68,996,592.64 kilos), Brazil (25,814 126.91 kilos), Taiwan (25,429338.92 kilos), Israel (15,339,517.86 kilos) and Uruguay (5,021,692.86 kilos).

While Paraguay was celebrating these achievements, a delegation from the United States' Department of Agriculture (USDA) is in the country since Monday auditing the local beef industry to determine whether Paraguayan beef may enter the US market

Meat producers are hoping that by ,id-2022 the country will be allowed to ship meat to the United States with a quota similar to that of Uruguay.

Mario Balmelli, chairman of the Rural Association of Paraguay (ARP) Meat Committee said that “they have done all their homework” and that is why there is confidence to obtain the approval of the US, since they understand that its industry is at the same levels as the countries that export to the American country.”

“We are very confident that we will pass the test,” Balmelli added. “The United States has its processes and bureaucracies that must be considered, but after the November audit we are confident that we are going to export to that market,” he went on.

Balmelli also explained the goal was to be granted a quota similar to that of Uruguay and Argentina (20 thousand tons).

He also pointed out that that the increase in the price of been was due to a raise in the cost of supplies. “The increase in supplies, costs and services must be considered; the producer's price is a value that adjusts in accordance to the cost of production.”