Argentina: Livestock and Products Semi-annual
Argentine beef production for 2017 is projected at 2.76 million metric tons (carcass weight equivalent - cwe), a moderate increase from last year. Beef exports are forecast at 270,000 tons (cwe), an increase of 53,000 tons from last year, but still very far from what Argentina used to export one or two decades ago. Beef exporters indicate that there continues to be a significant shortage of heavy steers and that the current exchange rate makes it very difficult to compete with the values paid in the domestic market and with other beef suppliers in the region. The cattle ending inventories for 2017 are projected at 54.7 million head, the highest in the past decade.
