Agriculture & Food

Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay are the largest beef suppliers to countries such as China, the United States and Russia. These four countries have achieved outstanding beef exports in 2020, breaking sales records. Which countries, quantity and value do they export to?

Last year, from a historical sales record to the urgent sales ban imposed by the Argentine government in May last year, the beef exports of these four countries have been on the front page of newspapers.

A survey conducted by the Fund for Stabilization of the Export of Meat, Milk and Their Derivatives (FEP) administered by the Federation of Livestock Industries of Colombia (Fedegán) examined their exports last year in detail.

Brazil

Starting from the world’s largest beef exporter, the report shows that in 2020 it exported more than 2 million tons abroad, including 1,558,502 tons of frozen beef, valued at more than $6.679 billion, and 165,902 tons of refrigerated meat, and other meat products. .

56% of frozen beef, a total of 868,700 tons, were shipped to China, the world's second largest economy, for about US$4.038 billion, which means an average payment of US$4648 per ton. The second is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. 207,791 tons of frozen meat arrived in Hong Kong, accounting for 13% of the total volume, and the export value was US$80967 million.

Egypt ranks third in frozen meat destinations, with a total of 117,623 tons (8%) exported with a value of 392.22 million U.S. dollars, followed by Russia with 53,149 tons (3%) with a value of 187.75 million U.S. dollars and Italy with a total of 22,311 tons (1%). Used for 143.98 million U.S. dollars. There is also the Philippines. Although it imported 39,222 (3%) tons, which is higher than Italy, its value is only US$133.07 million. This means that the average value of imported beef in European countries is higher, at US$6,453 per ton, while the average purchase in Asian countries is US$3,393 per ton.

Also in the top ten are the United Arab Emirates with 28,815 tons at US$108.03 million, Israel with 21,134 tons at US$10258 million, Saudi Arabia at 27,082 tons at US$102.5 million, and the United States with 20,097 tons at US$96.069 million.

Like Italy, Israel and the United States, the following destinations accounted for 1% of all exports, followed by Singapore, Chile, the Netherlands, Turkey, Libya and Argentina. In these six markets, they total 76,748 tons, with a cumulative value of 294.26 million US dollars. In addition, there are 81 countries, which together account for 5% of exports, and a total of 97 countries have imported Brazilian meat.

Countries such as Germany, Belize, Denmark, Ghana, Iran, Northern Macedonia, Central African Republic, India, or island countries such as the Marshall Islands or Seychelles appear in this extensive list, of which exports have increased by 75,834 tons, valued at 272.46 million Dollar.

Argentina

As far as Argentina is concerned, total exports in 2020 are 900,000 tons, valued at US$2.718 billion, of which 528,731 tons are frozen beef, valued at approximately US$2.064 billion, and 88,884 tons are refrigerated. 87% of frozen beef is exported to China, namely 462,173 tons, valued at US$1.715 billion, and an average of US$3711 per ton.

The list of exporters from Argentina is not as extensive as Brazil. Israel ranks second with 18,450 tons of frozen beef, valued at US$130.12 million, followed by the United States at 17,527 tons, valued at US$79.837 million, Brazil, 6,956 tons, valued at US$48.095 million, and Russia ranks in the top five. , Totaling 13,980 tons, valued at 43.778 million US dollars.

Other destinations include unspecified destinations such as Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Hong Kong, Peru, Chile, Curaçao, Portugal and Aruba, with a total of 9,646 tons and a cumulative amount of US$4682.4, accounting for 1%.

Uruguay

The FEP report shows that this country with a population of less than 3.5 million sold 276,787 tons of meat, with sales exceeding $1.29 billion.

The Uruguay Chamber of Industry revealed that meat and its by-products will remain its main export items in 2020, accounting for 26% of the country's total exports. But in terms of export volume, meat sales abroad declined last year, while exports in dollar terms fell by 11%.

As for the top two export countries, China remains the main destination market for Uruguay's meat even though its share has fallen by 10 percentage points (51%) in 2020. Followed by the United States (15%), the Netherlands (7%), Canada (4%), Israel (3%) and Brazil (3%).

China ranked first with 120,478 tons of frozen beef and a value of US$497.3 million, followed by the United States with 34,954 tons and US$20861 million, and third was Canada with 12,328 tons and a value of US$54.741 million.

Next are Israel’s 4597 tons and US$32.514 million, Italy 3694 tons and US$23.817 million, Brazil 2127 tons and US$15.821 million, Netherlands 1986 tons and US$13.107 million, Russia 4207 tons and US$12.558 million, Trinidad and more Bago 2,470 tons, 10.691 million US dollars.

In addition to these nine destinations, there are 22 other countries importing, including French Polynesia, Norway, South Korea, Barbados, the United Kingdom, Ecuador, Kuwait, Cyprus, South Africa, Lebanon and Colombia, etc., totaling 7,257 tons at USD 44.747 million.

Paraguay

The country successfully exported 157,141 tons of frozen beef and 114,917 tons of chilled beef, a total of 272,058 tons, realizing revenue of 1.2 billion US dollars. Unlike the first three, the largest buyer of Paraguayan meat is Russia, which registered 61,643 tons of frozen beef at a price of US$21057 million, accounting for 39% of the total transaction volume.

They are followed by Taiwan with 25,170 tons and US$11.589 million, Israel with 17,047 tons and US$88.527 million, Chile with 15,222 tons and US$44.066 million, and Kuwait with 7,332 tons and US$24.3 million.

In addition to these five markets, it also includes 41 other markets, such as Hong Kong, Egypt, Brazil, Libya, Palestine, Iraq, Aruba, Jordan, Peru, Malaysia and Colombia, with a total of 30,726 tons and a value of US$107.9 million.