In January, meat consumption fell by 6% due to the sharp increase in prices

In Argentina, the country recognized worldwide as the kingdom of barbecue and once the most carnivorous in the world, beef consumption has plummeted. According to the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Meat and Derivatives of the Argentine Republic (CICCRA), the consumption dropped from 63.2 kilos per capita per year in 2014 to 52.4.

The fall was 7.1% in five years, since in 2019 each inhabitant consumed 56.4 of them. And if you compare it with January 2023, the decrease was more than 6% year-on-year, given that at that time the figure had reached 53.5 kilos.

According to CICCRA, beef consumption would have been equivalent to 186,300 tonnes of bone-in beef and would have been 6.8% below the level recorded in January 2023when another 13,600 tons were marketed.

This fall it comes in the midst of an important event increase in the price of meat where he arrived 377% annually and increased nearly 20% in Januaryaccording to the latest survey by the Argentine Institute for the Promotion of Beef (IPCVA) carried out at AMBA during the first and third week of January in 80 butcher shops and 15 supermarkets.

The price of beef in butchers recorded an increase of 15.8% in January and 394.3% compared to the same month of 2023. In supermarkets, however, it showed a variation of 28.2% compared to the month previous year and 339.7% compared to January. of last year.

The main increases in average prices during the month of January concerned tapa roast (23.7%), loin (23.3%) and cuadril tail (23.2%). The cuts with the lowest price increases were instead those of common mass (6.3%), osso bucco (12.4%) and common carnival (13.7%).

It is worth remembering that last December beef had increased by 40% after the increase obtained by the farm in the Cañuelas Agricultural Market.

THE uncontrolled increase in prices In Argentina there is no respite and meat is immersed in that same dynamic. According to the consumer price index (CPI) reported last Wednesday by the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC), Inflation in January was 20.6%. and reached the 254% year-on-year. In this context of brutal loss of the purchasing power of wages, the collapse in the consumption of meat, as well as other foods and goods, is an announced consequence.