A private report revealed that, after December’s sharp price increase, beef in Argentina continues to be cheaper than in Uruguay and Chile, but more expensive than in Brazil and Uruguay.
In the first two weeks of December, the price of meat increased by 50%, added to the 11% recorded in November, as a result of the increase that the company had amid the political and economic uncertainty generated by the exchange rate crisis government.
In this context, Ieral, together with the Rural Society of the Northeast Santiagueño, carried out a survey in the online stores of supermarkets in the third week of December in Argentina – after the strong increases that have taken place – and comparing it with the values of the supermarkets in Uruguay, Chile, Brazil and Paraguay.
The job consisted of measuring 21 supermarkets and over 180 prices of cuts of beef from 5 countries.
According to the survey, among the five countries analyzed and for the basket of 8 cuts of meat chosen, eThe lowest average price was found in Paraguay: $5,868; Brazil follows, with a value of 8,424 dollars, and Argentina in third place with a value of 8.5870 dollars. Uruguay and Chile close the ranking with much higher values: 10,162 dollars/kilo and 12,088 dollars/kilo respectively.
“As expected, the four exporters, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay appear with average values lower than those of the importer alone, as it is Chile, although, as has already happened in other surveys, Uruguay shows an average value closer to Chile than to Argentina and Brazil”, we read in the document.
In official dollars, the retail price of beef (average 8 cuts) sold in supermarkets in the region It is found in a range between 7 and 15 dollars per kilo (third week of December), with Argentina currently slightly below the average of the previous interval (10.7 dollars/kg), but in a high value for what domestic prices have been in recent years.
For Ieral, it is surprising how distant the average price of the basket of 8 cuts of beef is in Paraguay compared to other countries in the region.
As explained, this may be due to several factors: a) The lower tax burden that Paraguay has, both on income and on internal consumption (for example, Paraguay has a VAT that is applied at a rate of 50% of the Argentine share). ); b) Any differences in the quality of cuts of beef; c) The strengths that Paraguay has developed in recent years in the livestock and meat supply chain, with production, industrialization, transport costs, etc., which have become increasingly competitive, which have allowed it to enter the top 10 of main world exporters.
In December 2023, after Paraguay,Brazil appears to be the cheapest meat country in the regiona place that Argentina had momentarily snatched from him in January, the month before the adjustment in agricultural and meat prices that would occur towards the end of that month and in February.
On the other hand, Chile remains, as usual, the country with the most expensive beef in terms of consumption. As for Uruguay, it shows an average price higher than that of Argentina and Brazil, as observed in the previous survey, but the current gap is greater than in that one, with prices closer to those of Chile. .
The last 3 years
Ieral compared the different surveys carried out in 2021, 2022 and 2023 in online stores in the region and the price gap remained favorable to Argentina compared to Uruguay and Chileand, since the quantities are higher than the trans-Andean country, the average gap of 8 surveys is 22.6% with Chile, while 13.0% with Uruguay.
As for Brazil, it should be notedThere has never been a significant gap of the same sign between the two countries.Yes, in 4 of the 8 surveys meat was cheaper in Argentina, and in the remaining 4 the ratio was favorable to Brazil.
“In the January survey of this year, meat cost 11% less in Argentina, but this difference disappeared and was reversed in the three subsequent surveys (May, August and December). On the simple average of the 8 surveys, Meat costs 1% less in Argentina than in Brazil“, closed the proceedings.
Source: Clarin
