RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Uruguayan government authorized the importation from Brazil of meat on the bone, the most traditional cut for Uruguayans.
The resolution seeks to lower retail costs amid inflation which in the last 12 months to May stood at 9.37%, its highest year-on-year level since March after an acceleration at the beginning of the year.
Livestock Minister Fernando Mattos explained on Thursday at a press conference that the access of Uruguayan meat to markets with high values has as a “flip side” the increase in price for the local consumer.
Because of this, the government favors importing products with sanitary status and facilitating access to the public at a lower price.
“Based on a greater participation of commercial agents in imports, we can have a benefit, which we are also looking for as a government, which is to have a quality product but also cheaper for the population,” said Mattos.
“The market will determine no volume restriction,” he added.
In addition to the decrease in retail cost, the authorities hope to free up the volume of Uruguayan meat for export.
“Importing cheaper meat and being able to export to more demanding markets is a benefit that developed countries in the meat industry realize for quite some time,” the minister said.
THE PRICE
The president of the Meat Sellers Union, Alfonso Fontenla, told Bloomberg Línea that according to what he was informed, the Brazilian meat on the bone would arrive in Uruguay at a price 20% lower than that of the local market, so “it is an appreciable difference to seduce the consumer and give him one more option”.
The kilo of this type of meat in Uruguay varies between UYU 250 (US$6.29) and UYU 500 in butcher’s shops, depending on its quality and the points of sale, explained the businessman.
“It is a measure aimed at improving prices in the domestic market while simultaneously stimulating a little more the sale of meat on the bone at the counter. These are welcome measures,” said Fontenla.
The reference price for a fat steer in Uruguay is US$5.42 per kilo, according to the Asociación de Consignatarios de Ganado.
SANITARY SAFETY
The resolution was signed this Thursday so that some 40 importing companies will be able to order the products as of Friday.
The meat packing plants were also authorized to import foreign meat for distribution in the domestic market.
These companies, which are also exporters, will only be able to place meat imported from Brazil in the domestic market.
Minister Mattos insisted that greater competition among importers also tends to favor a lower retail price.
The private sector and the Brazilian government submitted the request to authorize imports to the Uruguayan government after some Brazilian states consolidated a sanitary status superior to that of Uruguay, being free of foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination, said the Minister of Livestock.
These are the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Mato Grosso and Rondonia. Uruguay is free of FMD with vaccination.
Mattos said the volume of cattle in these states is 50 million head.
With information from Bloomberg