Report predicts big growth for beef industry in Paraguay
15/09/2011
Pasture lands are in good condition, USDA has said, and recent investment in the sector have led to herd sizes growing again. At the moment, there are an estimated 13 million head of cattle across the country. USDA believes this could increase to 20 million head by 2020.
Cows are being retained by livestock farmers with the aim of increasing herd sizes and an estimated 500,000 hectares in the Chaco region have been converted into high-quality pasture land in 2010 and 2011. The report estimates that Paraguay has at least another 4 million hectares available for conversion to pasture, without deforestation.
The report predicts that slaughter numbers in 2012 will be around 2.3 million head.
USDA found that the meat industry in Paraguay has ten large abattoirs with high levels of efficiency and health standards, all of them undergoing regular inspection. The meat from these plants mostly goes for export. The report does not say how many tanneries are receiving supply of the hides produced as a by-product. There are smaller registered abattoirs serving the domestic beef industry, but there is also some evidence of unregistered abattoirs in remote areas.
According to the report, there are 135,000 livestock farmers in Paraguay, mostly family-run operations with an average of only 25 head of cattle, but it says thousands more farmers are coming into the cattle industry each year.
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