Meat consumption does not take off: in February it fell 1.8% year-on-year and stood at 48 kilos per capita per year.

Meat consumption continues at historically low levels and with no view to a recovery that puts it back to historical average values. According to a report by the Chamber of Meat Industry and Commerce (CICCRA), February had a per capita consumption per year of 48 kilograms, which meant a 1.8% drop compared to the same month in 2021.

This means that during the second month of the year Argentines consumed the equivalent of 0.9 kilos less per capita per year, 2.4 kilos below those recorded in February 2020 and 7.1 kilos less than in the same period in 2019. In this way, this year's registration became the worst for this month, at least, since 2005, as marked by the work done by the business entity.

In dialogue with Infobae, the president of CICCRA, Miguel Schiariti, explained that the decline due to the “loss of the purchasing power of wages, which is getting worse and worse, and because of the price of meat, which has been increasing very significantly, due to the production problems that Argentina had in recent years”, as were the successive ones droughts that the country has been suffering three years ago and which hinders the reproductive process of animals.

As for retail meat prices, during the past month the average values of the different cuts increased by 3.2% and reached a year-on-year increase of 57.9%, according to the latest report by the Argentine Beef Promotion Institute (IPCVA). This rise was well above those recorded in chicken and pork breast, which had increases of 2.1% and 0.3% respectively. Similarly, it happened with year-on-year increases, which stood at 33.5% for poultry meat and 45.7% for pork.

It is worth mentioning that these results in terms of prices occurred despite the measures implemented by the national government to control them, such as the closure of exports and the quotation of shipments during 2021, the ban on marketing seven barbecue cuts abroad (a measure that is still ongoing) and the supply in supermarkets of popular cuts at values below those of the market.

In addition, Schiariti added “the increase in commodity prices and the excessive increase in the value of the calf, which is used as a store of value. Uncertainty means that the producer, as soon as he sells a steer cage, before buying it, already bought the calves and paid whatever price it was, especially because there are few of them. When supply is scarce, prices rise. I see very distant that prices stabilize. I think they're going to stay sustained, even though sales are depressed.”

Beef slaughter and meat production also remained below last year's records, but showed a recovery compared to January. According to the report, 1.09 million heads were sacrificed, 4.3% less year-on-year, but 8.6% higher than last month. Thus, “in the first two months of 2022 the total work was 1,983 million heads, being 1.0% lower than that of January-February 2021 and 4.5% lower than the average for the first two months of 1980 to 2021″.

With regard to meat production, a volume of 232,000 tons of beef with bone (tn r/c/h) was obtained during February, again showing a year-on-year decline of 2.8%, but a considerable recovery compared to January, calculated at 9% taking into account the number of working days that occurred during that month.

Thus, in the period January-February 2022, 454,400 tons of beef were produced with beef bones, which meant a fall in the level of sector activity of 1.3% year-on-year. However, if this tonnage is taken into account, and “assuming that the total exported was 107,000 tonnes of beef with bones equivalent in February, which would mean a decrease of 20.0% per year, 347,300 tons of beef with beef bone remained in the domestic market”, it would imply a volume 8.1% higher than that recorded in the first two months of 2021, the report concluded.

KEEP READING: