Argentina Bans Meat Exports To Reduce Domestic Prices, Chinese Will Eat Veggies
However due to very sharp rise in domestic meat prices, now suddenly Argentina has announced a snap 30-day ban on all Meat exports and the decision is set have ramifications for the trade globally. The Argentinian government is attempting to lower local beef prices with 30-day export ban. This is surely put a lot of pressure on China Argentina had exported about 750,000 metric tonnes of Meat in 2020, the bulk of which went to China.
One of the world’s biggest Meat exporters, Argentina sold about $US3 billion worth of product in 2020, mostly to China. The ban appeared to be driven by upcoming national elections and a desire to lower domestic meat prices.
President Alberto Fernandez reportedly told a beef export association that “emergency measures” would be developed for the sector. The president expressed his concern over the sustained growth in domestic beef prices over the last few months.
Nearly 68 per cent of Argentina meat export of about 750,000 metric tonnes last year, went to China that is around 510000 tonnes. China is the single largest purchaser of Meat internationally. Argentina services about 22% of the market.
Without Argentina participating in exports, China – which will be really needing meat, beef in particular and there will be a huge crisis. China would face a real challenge, as Brazil’s exports are down drastically and China has itself banned imports from Australia. So the Chinese they will look to North America, but they won’t be able to buy cheap, lean beef from USA too.
So at the moment it looks like New Zealand is one of the only country where the China will head to.
Argentina had such announcements earlier, including a 15-day ban in 2014, which did not achieve much to lower domestic prices. However this time global beef supplies were already tight and this announcement would have significant ramifications. There is going to be a genuine shortage of lean Meat globally for the next 12 to 24 months..
