Buenos Aires, September 21th. Recent data released by the National Statistics and Census Institute (INDEC) show that during July it is reached a new pork exports record. It were exported 650 tons of frozen meat mainly (95%) bought by Russian importers.
It is an irrelevant volume in terms of the international trade, but it could mark an inflection point for the pork chain in Argentina. Since 2003, the pork meat production is steadily raising from 158,310 tons (carcass weight equivalent) to 566.276 tons in 2017. The Argentineans increased its consumption from 5.33 to 15.05 kilograms per year, but exports didn’t surpass 15,000 tons per year, basically constituted by offal.
During 2017 the idea to export swine meat in large volumes started to concrete thanks the initiative of a group of large pork producers like Pacuca or AGD (Aceitera General Deheza), and other ten companies, that constituted a consortium named Argenpork. “Each company destine a percentage of its production to the consortium”, explain Guillermo Proietto, the coordinator of Argenpork, talking with www.eFarmNewsAr. “This provide a very stable scheme to doing business, that hold it beyond the value of the pork in the local market or the exchange rate with the dollar”, adds.
The coordinator anticipated that the consortium will be exporting around 700 tons per month until the end of the year, but a scenario of one thousand tons during 2019 is feasible. “Currently, eight more pork producers are entering to Argenpork”, Proietto explains. The opening of the Chinese market to Argentine pork meat could enhance the exports, the executive adds.
According to the INDEC data, pork frozen meat price (FOB) averaged 2,100 dollars per ton in July versus $2,000 a year before. Despite the dollar climbed up from AR$18 in January 2018 to AR$39 in September, Proietto affirm that devaluation is not the cause of this initial export boom.
Despite this opinion, in the beginning of the year, pork farmers received and average of $1,2 per live kilogram, according to the official data from Ag-Industry Secretariat. Now, in September, farmers are receiving $0,80, a clear favorable situation for the export business.
