Argentina will compete for the US Mexican market for imported meat

After a long road of negotiations that the Argentine Foreign Ministry began eight years ago, after an audit carried out in July, the inspectors of the National Service of Health, Safety and Food Quality of Mexico (Senasica) verified that the Senasa control system complies with the highest sanitary and food safety standards.

Presidents Manuel López Obrador and Alberto Fernández assumed the commitment to reactivate the bilateral trade agenda, in 2019, when the then president-elect visited Mexico; The dialogue to reopen the meat business, which remained on hold for two decades, was endorsed in February 2021, when the official delegation from Argentina returned to the North American country,

Twenty months later, the Mexican Senasica authorized 22 processing plants to export bovine meat products from Argentina, reported from the Foreign Ministry and noted that now both health services are “adjusting details” to agree on the animal health requirements that will appear in the health certificate that will guarantee the shipments .

Mexico is a strategic partner of our country, with which Argentina aspires to increase and diversify trade,” said the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Santiago Cafiero on his Twitter account, specifying that in 2021, bilateral trade amounted to 2,099 million dollars, with Argentine exports of almost 700 million dollars, mainly made up of sales of sunflower oil and wheat.

In relation to meat consumption, each year, Mexico imports 716 million dollars of fresh meat and 29 million dollars of frozen protein. Although the United States and Canada are the main suppliers of this market, thanks to Free Trade Agreements with zero tariffs, Argentina aspires to a small portion but one that can grow over time.

“It is still not clear what tariff positions will be included in the sanitary agreement or if there will be any preference for Argentina as if Uruguay has,” said a businessman in the sector and said that in a first stage it is expected to capture a volume of 20/25%, which is equivalent to 170 thousand tons per year.

Within the framework of this long negotiation, the health services and the agriculture portfolios of both countries, the Argentine Foreign Ministry and the Embassy in Mexico, the Consortium of Argentine Meat Exporters (ABC) and the Institute for the Promotion of Beef participated. Argentina (IPCVA).

The news comes in a complex scenario, with costs that do not stop growing, as described by the Confederation of Rural Associations of Buenos Aires and La Pampa (Carbap) that asked the Government to eliminate export duties for beef.