Argentina: Slight decline in slaughter and livestock production in March

This represents a slight monthly decline compared to February (-0.7%), equivalent to approximately 7.4 thousand animals; and a decrease (-3.5%) compared to March   2024 , equivalent to approximately 37.3 thousand heads.

Taking into account the number of working days in the month, which was 18, there was a moderate to significant increase compared to 20 working days in February, which gave a result of (+10.3%), and the daily slaughter in March reached 56.9 thousand heads, which is higher than the average daily figure for February of 51.6 thousand heads.

In the first three months of 2025, 3.20 million HEAD of cattle were slaughtered ; (-2.4%) less than the 3.28 million slaughtered between January and March 2024.

The biggest differences in slaughter figures compared to last year were observed among six-toothed cows, which reduced their accumulated slaughter by 25.5 thousand heads in the first three months of last year, and among eight-toothed cows, which showed a decrease in slaughter compared to last year of almost 81.8 thousand heads; this was partially offset by two-toothed females, whose slaughter increased by approximately 65.7 thousand heads compared to that recorded in January-March 2024.

In March 2025, female slaughter accounted for 45.9% of total slaughter, slightly lower than the 47.1% recorded in the same month of the previous year.

In the first three months of this year, female slaughter accounted for 46.4% of total slaughter, slightly below the 46.9% recorded in the January-March 2024 period. As a result, almost 54,100 fewer females were sent to slaughter in the first three months of 2025 than in the same period last year.

“Beef production in March 2025 was about 234,000 tonnes in carcass equivalent on the bone, down (-0.8%) from February and down (-2.7%) from March 2024. Just over 734,800 tonnes in carcass equivalent were produced in the first three months of 2025, down (-1.8%) from the 748,100 tonnes produced between January and March 2024,” said Mario Ravettino, President of the ABC consortium.

The average weight of cattle carcasses corresponding to the third month of the current year was 228.5 kg, which is (-0.1%) less than the figure for February last year (228.7 kg); and slightly higher (+0.9%) than 226.5 kg in March 2024. The average weight of carcasses for the three months of this year was 229.4 kg; (+0.6%) more than for the same period last year (228.0 kg).

“The slaughter of companies linked to the Argentine MEAT Exporters Consortium (ABC) reached 321,500 heads in March, representing 31.4% of total slaughter. ABC’s share of total slaughter falls compared to the 33.2% reached in February 2025; it is also lower than the 35.3% reached in March 2024. Between January and March 2025, companies linked to the ABC consortium slaughtered 1.065 billion heads of cattle, representing 33.3% of total slaughter,” concluded Ravettino.

Slaughter in March 2025 decreased by 7.4 thousand heads compared to the previous month (-0.7%), while slaughter of companies included in the consortium fell by 20.8 thousand heads (-6.1%).