Beef consumption continues to decline in the country and reaches historic lows, in a context of falling purchasing power of the population.
Specifically, eIn March the per capita consumption was 42.6 kilos, which marks a decline of 18.5% compared to the same month of 2023, the worst record in the last 30 years, according to a report from the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Meat and Derivatives of the Argentine Republic (Ciccra).
The decrease in beef consumption is due to the decrease in the purchasing power of the population. “People have no control“, said Miguel Schiariti, president of Ciccra.
“What sales, what decline?” said Leonardo Rafael, president of the Argentine Chamber of Matarifes and Suppliers (Camya), ironically. “Since there are no more sales, there is no drop,” he continued with his sarcastic response.
Subsequently, Rafael warned that starting in December there was a reduction in demand by 30 to 40%. “Sales are dropping dramatically month after month. There’s a tremendous recession,” she said. “All the grilled cuts, like the asado, the sous vide and the matambre, don’t come out. I’ve never seen them delayed so long, especially in the summer, when there’s always a shortage. They only ask for the cheapest cuts, like shoulder, osso bucco and milanesas, which are classic,” he noted.
In this context of declining sales, The price of the emblematic product in March accompanied the general inflation data from the Indec. March values increased 11% compared to February and 275% compared to March 2023, according to IPCVA data. Ground meat (16%), osso buco (13%) and shoulder (13%) were the cuts that recorded the greatest increases.
Comparison with other products eIn the last three months there has been a “slowing down” of the increase that was leading to 2023, which ended in December with an increase of 40% and on an annual basis of 310%. In February the increase had reached just 4%, while in January it had been 19%.
“The increase in the price of livestock in the last 12 months was 306%, that of meat 280%. These over 20 points were absorbed by the supply chain”, explains Schiariti regarding the drop in sales.
According to Schiariti Beef values will be maintained because there is no recovery in sales in the near term.
Making history, in 1960 each Argentine consumed 82 kilos (peak) of beef and consumption has decreased ever since. according to data from the Argentine Institute for the Promotion of Beef (IPCVA). In the 1980s he dropped to 78 kilos. Already in the 1990s he had lost 70 kilos. In the new millennium the decline was even more accentuated, reaching 65 kilos. Then, in 20 years, he weighed 50 kilos again. And in the last 4 years the decline has been even more pronounced, reaching 42.6 kilos in March 2024.
Beef has been added to by competition from other meats due to its lower value. In the 1990s, poultry meat consumption was 20 kilos and now it is 45-49 kilos, even exceeding the vaccine. Over the same period, pork consumption increased from 10 to 21 kilos.
Another factor that explains the decrease in meat consumption is the reduction in livestock slaughter. In March, cattle slaughter amounted to 1,054 million head, marking a significant decline for the fourth consecutive month and marking one of the lowest levels of activity in the last forty-five Marches. Meanwhile, March beef production totaled 237,000 tonnes of bone-in meat, 13.3% less than the same month in 2023, while exports remained at 85,000 tonnes in the third month of 2024.
Source: Clarin
