Argentine beef producers in talks with government to lift export ban

Argentine MEAT producers will continue talks with the government aimed at lifting a month-long suspension of beef exports announced in mid-May, the country's Agro-Industrial Council (CAA) said in a statement.

REUTERS reports that the suspension is aimed at reducing domestic inflation, but livestock farmers do not agree with the measure and have stopped the sale of livestock until Wednesday June 2 in protest.

Farm leaders say the strike could resume to include grain sales if negotiations with the government are not reached.

According to the CAA statement, Dardo Chiesa, coordinator of the Mesa de las Carnes, an association of dozens of organizations in the sector, met with Peronist President Alberto Fernandez on Wednesday evening.

"The CAA representatives agreed with the national authorities to deepen the search for long-term, medium-term and short-term coherent policies to remedy the situation by advancing food supplies to meet the demand of both the domestic and EXPORT market," the CAA said in a statement. 

it said that Fernandez "expressed the need for a quick resolution and understanding of the issue of domestic supply in order to lift the measures to suspend exports."

The government and the meat sector are serious about reaching an agreement, according to a presidential office source who had direct knowledge of the meeting but asked not to be identified due to the political sensitivity of the issue. 

Argentina ranks fifth in the world in the export of cattle meat, with most of its supply going to CHINA .

The country, which has been in recession since 2018, has been experiencing high inflation for years. In Argentina, consumer prices rose 17.6% in the first four months of this year and 46.3% in the past 12 months, according to official figures.

With congressional elections approaching at the end of the year, beef prices are a sensitive political issue in a country where grilling meat is considered something of a national pastime.

Farmers have halted the domestic livestock trade in protest at the suspension of meat exports. This protest lasted until Wednesday, but farmers' associations said they could resume and include grain sales if negotiations are not reached.

The country's free-market farming groups distrust the centre-left Fernandez. Previous Peronist administrations have grappled with the agricultural sector in the all-out farmers' strike of 2008, which hurt the number three economy in Latin America.

These political tensions are close to the surface of today's debate over government intervention in the meat export market.