(Resource News International) –– The decision by the Argentine government to shut down its beef exports in an effort to increase domestic supply will definitely open the door of opportunity for other major beef exporting countries, including Canada, an official with the Canadian Beef Export Federation said.
Argentina’s agricultural trade office, Oncca, stopped issuing export permits for beef on Monday (Dec. 14) and was likely to block shipments for at least 15 days.
Exports were expected to resume in January and February as local demand eases, but an even bigger crunch and additional limits to Argentine shipments were expected in April and May.
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“The amount of beef Canada will be able to export because of the Argentine situation is very much a ‘market-by-market’ situation,” said Mauricio Arcila, director of technical services at the Canadian Beef Export Federation (CBEF).
Other major beef exporting countries will also be looking to increase their market share during Argentina’s absence, he said.
“Argentina is a huge shipper of beef worldwide, and with their absence there will be a need for those importers to search out other suppliers of high-quality beef,” Arcila said.
Anywhere Argentina would have exported its beef will open the door for Canadian beef. However, Arcila said, other shippers including Brazil, Uruguay, and Australia will also be looking to grab a share of that market.
“We have a group of producers and exporters who are serious about increasing their market share in the European Union, and now with Argentina out of the game, Canada should be able to gain a good foothold of that market,” Arcila said, noting that EU buyers pay premiums for their high-quality beef.
Russia is another market that will provide plenty of opportunity for other beef exporting countries, Arcila said.
Argentina, if not the largest, was definitely the second-largest supplier of beef to Russia and Russia imports a lot of beef, he said.
During calendar year 2008, Brazil was the largest beef exporter, accounting for 22 per cent of the world exports, statistics provided by Arcila revealed. Australia in 2008 had a 20 per cent share of the world beef export market while Canada’s share was 12 per cent.
Argentina’s share of the world beef export market in 2008 was six per cent.
