The drop in purchasing power and increases in the price of meat had a full impact on consumption in Argentina, according to Fundación Mediterránea.
The slaughter of cattle fell 11.2% year-on-year in the second quarter of the year and per capita consumption fell to the lowest level in history, according to a report prepared by the Mediterranean Foundation.
Per capita consumption in the first five months of 2021 it is located at just 45.3 kilos per capita.
The Economist Nicolas Torre, from the entity’s IERAL institute, explained that considering the cumulative workload for 2021, there is a “significant decline in activity for the meat processing industry located in the interior of the country, in Córdoba, Cuyo and Santa Fe.”
During 2020, 560 thousand belly cows were lost, with a drop of 2.4%, which translated into an upward factor in the price of the ranch during the last quarters, and consequently of the beef at the counter of 75% between May 2020-2021.
Wages rose 38% during the same period, which translated into a marked drop in the per capita consumption of beef, estimated at 45.3 kg per habitant, for the first five months of 2021, according to the specialist’s analysis.
Thus, in a context of changing sectoral policies for the bovine chain, in the face of the closure and subsequent partial opening of exports, the activity of the meat packing industry exhibits a marked contraction in relation to the same period of last year, when comparing data from April -May 2021 against the same months of 2020.
According to data published by the National Directorate of Agricultural Commercial Control (DNCCA), lThe industry registered during April-May 2021 a slaughter level (heads) 11.2% lower than the same period of 2020.
he consumption of beef in Argentina is at the lowest level in history
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Report details
This lower activity would be explained, in principle, by the simultaneous conjunction of the retraction of the supply of finance and a worrying negative trend observed in the endowment of bellies: 560 thousand cows were lost between December 2019 and Dec 2020, 2.4%.
The other negative factor is the low purchasing power of wages in relation to meat during the advance of 2021.
The work accumulated during the first five months of 2021 accumulates a 6.1% contraction compared to the same period in 2020.
Meanwhile, the province of Buenos Aires, leader with 51.5% of the national taskl, produced 2.69 million head, which represented a decrease of 5.5% compared to January-May 2020.
Santa Fe, second in importance, it participates with 17%, it slaughtered 890 thousand heads.
Per capita consumption in the first five months of 2021 stands at just 45.3 kilos per capita
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Córdoba, third with 7% of the national slaughter, it slaughtered 366 thousand heads. Entre Ríos ranked fourth, with 3.9% of the work.
Thus, beef destined for the domestic market increased in price by 75% during the last 12 months (May / May), from $ 385 to $ 673 per kilo, considering a set of six beef cuts: Roast, narrow steak, minced meat, rump, buttock and shoulder.
In the same period, the salary of a registered private sector worker (seasonally adjusted) increased by approximately 38%, to around $ 79,000 as of May 2021.
This amount allowed the acquisition in May of approximately 117 kilos of beef: set of six cuts.
“If this volume is compared with that of a year ago (149 kilos), it is concluded that the loss of purchasing power of the salary registered in relation to kilograms of beef is 21%”, says the analysis.
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