Beef consumption at its lowest level in three decades, says industry group

Consumption of beef dropped by 17.5 percent in the first four-month period of the year, as against the same period of 2023, and is once again the worst on record in the last 30 years, according to data from the CICCRA industry group.

A survey conducted by CICCRA, the Argentine Chamber of Industry and Trade of Meat and Related Products, specified that “apparent consumption of beef had totalled 663,400 tonnes of beef on the bone” between January and April, some 141.1 tonnes less than the first four months of last year.

The report also showed that “with these figures, the apparent consumption of beef per inhabitant had amounted to 42.4 kilos/year in the first four months of 2024, 18.5 percent less than recorded in the same period of 2023 (-9,6 kilos/inhabitant/year).”

Thus, just as in the previous calculation, for the first quarter of the current calendar year, meat consumption continues to suffer a historic fall.

As for the price variation in the context of high inflation with an impact on the decline of consumption, the report included the fact that during April, the average cost of “meat and related products” once again was among the ones with the lowest increases (4.9 percent).

In this respect, the report stated that “it was the average value of beef cuts surveyed by INDEC which contributed to this slowdown, since it increased by 4.7 percent from March” and, conversely, they pointed out that “on the other hand, the price of chicken rose by 8.2 percent during the month."

In the year-to-year comparison, the average price of beef cuts measured by INDEC recorded a 284.3-percent rise, with up to 304.8 percent in the case of common mince and at least 265.7 percent in the case of round steak. The rise was below the price increase of live cattle (+321.8 percent per year), and the evolution of the general consumer price levels (+292.2 percent).

From CICCRA, they explained that “what prevented butchers from transferring these rising costs immediately to the counter and the contraction of consumption being even higher, was the dive in purchasing power of wage-earners over the last year, especially employees in the public sector and informal employees in the private sector."

 

– TIMES/NA