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Buenos Aires (AFP)
The Argentine government finalizes the details of a livestock plan to reopen beef exports, suspended for a month, under a system of quotas that aim to lower the price in the domestic market, sources from the sector indicated this Monday.
Although the suspension expired on Sunday, this Monday’s holiday in Argentina gives the government an additional period to finish adjusting the plan.
The referents of the main livestock employers were summoned to the Government House on Tuesday, when announcements are expected.
“We do not know what the announcement will consist of, what we really hope is that there will be a total opening and that we will begin to design an incentive plan for greater production,” Carlos Achetoni, president of the Argentine Agrarian Federation, told AFP.
The plan “would be a quota (of exports) in which there is no agreement with us. There is a lot of unrest” among ranchers, the leader warned.
“If the measures are not what we need in the livestock sector, we will have a protest at the door,” said Jorge Chemes, president of the Argentine Rural Confederations (CRA).
The Minister of Productive Development, Matías Kulfas, announced that his ministry is working to “finish adjusting the mechanisms” to reopen the exports closed on May 20.
One of the pillars of the livestock plan will be measures to encourage production.
“The way out of this is that Argentina can overcome the historical barrier of 3 million tons per year of beef” produced, he said.
“We are stuck at the maximum level of production. If we could go to a level of 5 million, which is our great goal, we could guarantee ourselves 3 million tons for the domestic market,” he argued.
The livestock employers had rejected the closure of exports with a 14-day stoppage of sales in the domestic market that did not have a great impact on the sale to the public due to accumulated stocks in the refrigerators.
The government seeks to put a brake on the rise in the price of meat that increased 76.2% in May, compared to the same month of 2020.
Beef has benefited from a rise in its price on international markets, which is pushing up domestic prices.
The context is a general inflation index in Argentina that reached 21.5% between January and May, although it registered 3.3% in May, the lowest so far in 2021.
The increase in the price of meat again impacted consumption, which fell from 69.3 kilos per person per year in 2009 to 49.2 kg today, according to the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Meat and Derivatives ( CICCRA).
© 2021 AFP
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