During the month of February 2024Overseas sales of chilled and frozen beef have been achieved 67.1 thousand tons weight of the product for a value of $248.7 million. This represents a Increase of 8.6%. compared to January in volume ea 4.4% in value.
When compared with the month of February 2023, the exported volumes are a 28.5% more it’s a 16.1% more in foreign currency.
In the first two months of 2024, overseas sales of chilled and frozen beef reached 129,000 tonnes of produced weight for $486.7 million. Compared to the same two months of 2023, volumes grew by 24.5% and the value obtained by 14.7%.
As for the average price, as of February 2024 it was $3,703 per ton3.8%. lower than the previous month it’s a 9.6 less than in February 2023 when it was equal to $4,098 per ton.
According to the ABC Consortium, which brings together the main Argentine exporters, “starting from May 2022, a persistent downward trend in prices is observed in the main destinations”. Therefore, the price obtained in February is found $2,600 per ton below of the maximums recorded in April 2022.
“The cumulative figure for the last twelve months of activity, from March 2023 to February 2024, highlights a total export of refrigerated and frozen beef for a volume of 708.5 thousand tonnes of product weight for a value close to 2,840 million dollars” he stated Mario Ravettino, President of the ABC Consortium.
China remains the main destination export of Argentine beef and in February received the 80% of shipments. In total, approximately 15.7 thousand tonnes of bone-in and bone-in beef worth 25.1 million dollars and approximately 38 thousand tonnes of boneless beef worth 128.5 million dollars were sent following slaughter. .
The average price of boneless meat sales in China in February 2024 was around $3,380 per ton, well below the high of $5,900 achieved in May 2022.
In the first two months of 2024, 79.5% of meat exports went to China. Over the past four months, shipments of frozen boneless beef to this country have stabilized at between 36 and 38 thousand tons. While exports of bone-in meat and bovine bones resulting from trimming grew by over 3.6 thousand tonnes compared to the month of January.
According to the ABC Consortium, the second month of 2024 saw historically low levels of refrigerated boneless meat shipments to Chile. A total of 1,633 tonnes were shipped, 40% less than in February 2021 and 2022.
On the other hand, there has been a significant increase in shipments of boneless chilled meat to Europe. “The effect of the shipping window for the 481 quota for the second quarter of 2024 is mainly observed. As a result, volumes increase by more than 1,000 tonnes, 29.2% more, compared to January,” said the entity.
Sales of Kosher-certified meat to Israel remained strong in terms of volume, shipping 1,553 tons of refrigerated meat and 2,189 tons of frozen meat in February. With total shipments of more than 3.7 thousand tons, Israel was the third most important destination of the month for Argentina, behind China and Europe.
Meanwhile, volumes of chilled meat exported to the United States remained stable and there was a slight increase in volumes of frozen meat, reaching almost 1.6 thousand tonnes between the two items in the last month of February, with a price average which showed marked declines compared to January in refrigerated products and slight drops in frozen products.
Exports of offal and beef preparations amounted to 8.8 thousand tonnes in February, worth 13.4 million dollars. The average price was close to $1,520 per ton, with peaks above $2,840 for tongues. For its part, in the first two months of 2024, overseas sales of these products increased to 19.8 thousand tons, worth $28.3 million.
Source: Clarin
