Paraguay overtakes Argentina as a beef exporter
14/10/2014
Ms Borror visited the South American country at the start of October and found that the beef industry is recovering strongly after two relatively recent outbreaks of foot and mouth disease (FMD). Paraguay confired an outbreak of FMD in late 2011 followed by a second one in early 2012.
However, the USMEF economist said after her visit that the beef industry is strong there and that the biggest obstacle Paraguayan processors have to overcome these days is limited transportation links.
Because Paraguay is landlocked, exporters there often have to use river transportation to ship goods to Montevideo in Uruguay for distribution by ocean. This is important to the beef industry because more than 50% of all of Paraguay’s beef exports are to Russia at the moment, Erin Borror said.
In the first three quarters of 2014, she reported that Paraguay’s beef exports were up by 16% from a year ago to 224,535 tonnes. Exports over the same period went up in value by 26% year on year to reach $993.1 million.
Ms Borror pointed out that these figures put Paraguay in eighth place in the global beef exporting league table and mean that the country has now overtaken neighbouring Argentina and expects to pass Uruguay in the near future.
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