Argentina's costly christmas beef offers taste of future prices
Monday, 21 December 2009
BUENOS AIRES, Dec 20 (Bloomberg): Argentine beef prices are expected to climb next year after rising 13 per cent before the holidays, when consumption peaks in the world's largest red-meat-eating country, a farm group said.
Cattle shortages and drought are boosting year-end beef prices, Arturo Llavallol, a board member at the Argentine Beef Promotion Institute, said in a telephone interview from Buenos Aires. Today's cattle prices were 4.18 pesos ($1.15) per kilo at Argentina's largest cattle market, the Mercado de Liniers in Buenos Aires, up from 3.69 pesos a month earlier.
Cattle breeders are cutting production because the government has restricted exports and attempted to regulate prices since late 2005, Llavallol said. The South American country's cattle herd has declined in the past year as the worst drought in a century harmed pastures.
On Aug. 27, Hugo Biolcati, president of the Rural Society, said Argentina may have to import beef in 2010 to meet domestic demand.
Cattle shortages and drought are boosting year-end beef prices, Arturo Llavallol, a board member at the Argentine Beef Promotion Institute, said in a telephone interview from Buenos Aires. Today's cattle prices were 4.18 pesos ($1.15) per kilo at Argentina's largest cattle market, the Mercado de Liniers in Buenos Aires, up from 3.69 pesos a month earlier.
Cattle breeders are cutting production because the government has restricted exports and attempted to regulate prices since late 2005, Llavallol said. The South American country's cattle herd has declined in the past year as the worst drought in a century harmed pastures.
On Aug. 27, Hugo Biolcati, president of the Rural Society, said Argentina may have to import beef in 2010 to meet domestic demand.