Global Beef Roundup: Chávez orders more private land controls in Venezuela -

This legislation allows the government to forcefully expropriate land in circumstances relating to national food security and the public good.

Clint Peck

“This is social property; it cannot be converted, as they have done, into property for just a few people so they can enrich themselves while polluting waterways and rivers,” said Chávez.

The Ranchers Federation of Venezuela has criticized the decision as a “new attack against production and private property” in Venezuela and stated that the British business had tried to maintain friendly relations with the government.

Classified as highly fertile type A1 lands, the company currently uses the 11 ranches for cattle grazing.

According to government estimates, the nationalization of the land will increase the national distribution of meat and create extensive domestic employment opportunities.

Over 5,000 cattle workers are also expected to benefit directly from the nationalization.

Argentina
Argentina’s per capita beef consumption of 118 pounds registered so far in 2011 is its lowest in 53 years. This is a drop of approximately 50 percent from 217 pounds in 1958, according to the Argentine Institute for the Promotion of Beef (IPCV).

“One of the reasons for the decrease in consumption was the 2009 drought that impacted supplies,” said Gonzalo Alvarez Maldonado, IPCV president.

“And the other reason is that cattle breeding profits have plummeted. Farmers turned over to soybeans, which is far more rewarding.”

The 180 percent increase in consumer beef prices since 2009 has also been a crucial reason for the 22.4 percent drop in per capita consumption of beef which, in 2010, stood at 128 pounds. Much of those increases are blamed on government control of beef pricing at wholesale and retail levels.

In the first half of 2010, Argentines ceased to be the world’s main consumers of beef when they were overtaken by Uruguay with an average per capita consumption of 128 pounds, according to the Uruguayan National Meats Institute.

Soybeans have become the predominant harvest, displacing not only cattle but other traditional grains such as wheat and corn.

Argentina has become the world’s third-largest exporter of soybeans, behind the U.S. and Brazil.

In spite of the fall in per capita consumption, the “beef barbecue” tradition is still ingrained in Argentine gastronomic culture, therefore consumers will continue to spend an increasing share of their disposable income for beef.

Argentina’s dairy cattle associations have embarked on programs to increase beef production, in an effort to take advantage of the supply shortage in both the domestic and export markets.

Although consumption of other proteins, such as chicken, has increased slightly (fueled by the soaring beef prices), pork consumption remains low as Argentina’s swine industry is still developing, with imports still needed to satisfy domestic consumption.

Brazil
The world’s largest producer of animal protein, JBS SA, plans to seek greater efficiencies by integrating some of its meat production functions into a global model.

In recent years, JBS has focused on structuring some shared service areas within each continental business unit, particularly in South America and the U.S., aiming at improving costs and efficiency at regional level.

“We will begin a new phase in which we will identify where some of these services – including operations, sales, purchasing, technology and human resources – can be integrated globally,” said chief executive Wesley Batista.

The service integration strategy announcement came as part of JBS’ 2011 third-quarter financial results briefing.

Batista said this year’s third quarter was a period of significant importance for JBS, with net revenues exceeding $8.2 billion (10.6 percent higher than the same quarter last year) and operational cash flow generation of $503 million.

“After a series of acquisitions in recent years which placed the company among the global leaders of the food industry, we are at a unique moment in our history,” added Batista.

Between July and September the company recorded a significant improvement in its operations by capturing synergies among units around the world, especially in Brazil, the U.S. and Australia.

The U.S. beef division, which includes the company’s beef and lamb operations in Australia, remained firm, Batista said.

The U.S. beef business unit (including Australia) revenues in the third quarter grew 25 percent over the same period last year.

Of this total, about $3 billion was sold on the U.S. domestic market, an improvement of 27.6 percent over the same quarter last year.The remaining $1.17 billion came from exports of U.S. beef, which increased by 20.1 percent.

Russia
Russia has decided to resume purchases of Paraguayan beef and beef byproducts following the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) episode detected in one Paraguayan farm last September.

According to Paraguayan sanitary officials, “the case was caused by a human error.” Russia, which is one of Paraguay’s main beef clients, only banned livestock from the San Pedro province where the alleged outbreak was reported.

Russia had banned all Paraguayan beef imports once the FMD outbreak was reported in the Santa Helena farm. The country’s authorities proceeded to slaughter 820 cattle and imposed several quarantine rings. No further FMD cases have been reported since.

Paraguay is rapidly becoming a main exporter of beef and, until Sept. 18, had a status extended by the World Animal Health Organization as free of FMD with vaccination.

Russia sent a special team of inspectors and veterinarians to check Paraguayan sanitary procedure and finally approved in mid-November the resumption of sales.Likewise, Brazil has sent its own experts for a similar evaluation.

However, it is not clear yet how Paraguay will physically be shipping the beef out of the landlocked country to any export destination since both Argentina and Uruguay have warned that no beef from a country with cattle exposed to FMD virus will be allowed to cross their territories.