Colombia has what it takes to become a major meat exporter.

Colombia, with a cattle population exceeding 30 million, boasts one of the largest herds in the world. However, this potential contrasts with a disturbing reality: nearly 40% of cattle are slaughtered clandestinely.

As is well known, such practices not only undermine the legality of the value chain, but also pose a direct threat to public HEALTH, affect the profitability of legal MEAT processing plants, and perpetuate an inefficient economic model, as warned by Oscar Cubillos Pedraza, HEAD of planning and economic research at Fedegán (FNG).

Enemy of the system

Illegal slaughter has become one of the main internal saboteurs of the meat industry. Animals stolen and slaughtered from pastures or farms that have not undergone sanitary inspections end up on markets without traceability or health guarantees, demonstrating weak oversight.

Municipal health departments, which play a key role in monitoring sales, are understaffed and underresourced. And Invima, whose operations are limited to a few municipalities, is unable to handle nationwide surveillance on its own.

According to Cubillos, it is crucial to strengthen the capacity of territorial entities and provide them with the tools to punish those who act outside the law.

The urgent implementation of a national cattle traceability system is one of the cornerstones of resolving this structural uncertainty. As Cubillos Pedraza puts it, "If I find cattle anywhere, I must be able to trace their origin and verify their legality."

Moreover, the closure of processing plants in small municipalities has led to a shortage of legal meat, which has quickly been filled by illegal channels. Plants intended for self-consumption, especially in municipalities of the 5th and 6th categories, require investment, modernization, and technical support.

According to Cubillos Pedraza, strengthening these enterprises is crucial to eliminating clandestine slaughter and restoring law and order in regions where informal activity currently prevails.

Formal sacrifice

Despite a slight recovery in 2024 , legal slaughter levels remain below 2013 levels. This is due to a deteriorating economic situation, low levels of public investment, post-pandemic inflationary pressures, and limited supply due to a shortage of meat processing plants.

Added to this is the import of pork and poultry, which amounts to around 200,000 tonnes per year, which impacts domestic beef consumption.

However, the real bottleneck remains the informal nature of production, as while 3.2 million head of cattle are slaughtered in formal facilities, more than a million are slaughtered clandestinely.

The market exists, but a significant portion of it flows through illegal channels, which undermines the development of the sector.

Price increase

A persistent anomaly in the Colombian meat market is the gap between the price of live cattle and the consumer price. When the price of bulls falls, the price of meat remains unchanged, but when it rises, the meat immediately becomes more expensive.

This symmetry is beneficial to commercial relations, although it harms the end consumer and limits incentives to formalize consumption.

This is why Cubillos Pedraza argues that, while this distortion is difficult to completely correct, it can be mitigated by increasing the supply of legal meat and making consumers more demanding and educated, who will demand fair prices.

International competition and foreign policy

The appreciation of the Colombian peso against the currencies of competing countries, such as Brazil , has artificially inflated the price of Colombian beef on international markets. While the real has depreciated, the peso has strengthened, making our exports less competitive. The high local interest rate, currently close to 9.25%, stimulates the influx of dollars, reducing the value of the currency in Colombia and increasing the cost of our exports.

Cubillos Pedraza explained that for the exchange rate to benefit the EXPORT sector, a healthier and more stable economy is necessary  . A more competitive exchange rate will help maintain stable domestic prices without harming producers or the international market.

In this regard, while competing countries exploit strategic trade agreements, Colombia is missing out on key opportunities. For example, the US market remains inaccessible due to the lack of diplomatic and trade governance.

According to the expert, "we were imposed a 10% tariff, and we did nothing to lift it." Meanwhile, other countries are strengthening their market positions, which should be natural for Colombia.

Finally, the lack of a structured trade policy, coupled with diplomatic tensions with strategic partners such as the United States, has deprived the country of obvious growth opportunities in promising markets such as Indonesia, Japan , or the United States itself.