Stalemate for Uruguayan cattle industry
03/01/2014
With the arrival of summer, cattle farmers across the country are concerned about the availability of water and pasture land. Fewer animals than expected went to slaughter in December and industry observers have talked about blockages in the supply chain.
Cattle producers have complained that average prices at the close of the year of around $3.20 per kilo are too low, while representatives of the meat industry have said this is higher than the prices producers in Australia are able to command at the moment.
“These prices are a disaster for us,” the president of the national meat institute (INAC), Luis Alfredo Fratti, said recently, “and I am keen to know what the cattle industry intends to do about it.”
While cattle farmers are concerned about overcrowding on summer pastures, however, they have said that margins on slaughtered animals fell from around $335 per head in November to between $220 and $240 by the end of the year.
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