Global protein boom: the gym trend put beef back on the dinner plate

But lately livestock farming seems to have abandoned its austere times and is experiencing a present of record-breaking prices and that show an activity without money urgency, but with need to increase rodeos to take advantage of this great window of opportunity. The economist and expert Ignacio Iriarte reminded us that here “Meat is not a food. It is a social fact.”

Added to this is a global cultural phenomenon and it is the medical recommendation of generate muscle as a synonym for health, which requires a diet that includes animal protein, in addition to multiplying gyms. World demand for meat today seems infinite.

In a day organized by the newspaper The Voice in Córdoba, the agronomist Pablo Cattani concluded that Argentina is the best country in the world to produce beef. And he justified what could seem like a slogan. In his vision, the oceanic climate It fits perfectly because it is softer, in addition to the availability of water and sun for forage. Although he added that there is 70% of the territory that remains unused and that we do not know how to feed ruminants properly due to poor pasture management, which is evident in the low fertility rate.

As with humans, reproductive energy comes when there is energy left over. In Argentina the weaning rate is 58% and remains stagnant.The beef stock is also in a plateau with 50 million heads. By way of comparison, Brazil, which was not a livestock country, has 240 million heads and is the world’s leading meat exporter.

Iriarte referred to the perverse responses of some goods. “When prices rise, treasury is retained“, he explained, warning that international prices rose 23% in the year.

“Europe abandoned its ranchers, the United States is suffering from drought and a new china If we add the inhabitants of Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, the dragons of Asia are consuming meat. To that is addedThe trade agreement with the United States and that of the European Union that eliminated tariffs and improvement of US$ 3,000 per ton the price of the Hilton share. Israel pays US$2.5 billion for the kosher cut and in the US there is a huge kosher market that we should capture,” Iriarte listed.

He did warn, however, of the collapse of domestic consumption. In 2013, with an average salary you could buy 184 kilos of beef and today, only 99 kilos. “It’s a brutal fall,” held. Thus, in the last 25 years, beef production registered an increase of 11%, while poultry increased by 166% and pork by 281%.

Precisely, Mario Aguilar Benitez, vice president of the Córdoba Stock Exchange and the Las Chilcas establishment that produces grains and pigs, spoke of the revolution that this sector is leading in moving from the production of sausages to fresh meat that is already part of the diet with a annual consumption of 20 kilos per capita.

“The aspirational potential of the sector is to reach 35 kilos of consumption per inhabitant,” said Aguilar Benitez, stating that Argentina, due to its availability of soy and corn, has one of the lowest production costs in the world (US$ 1.10 per live kilo), but behind the gates is the drama of freight. And especially Córdoba, which does not have sufficient slaughter capacity and must send one million capons, of the 2.4 million it produces, to the Buenos Aires meat processing plants. “It is a missed opportunity to produce local added value.”

The Minister of Bioagroindustry and Production of Córdoba, Sergio Busso, took note and at the close of the day he stated that he is pending achieving equal treatment for the meat processing plants of Córdoba, with respect to those located in Buenos Aires and Rosario. In passing, he reiterated his position against withholdings and spoke of the need for predictable rules. It was almost 8 pm last Wednesday and the nearly 150 participants crowded into a tasting of different cuts of meat specially prepared for the occasion and which everyone celebrated.