South America will have 50% of the global beef trade in 5 years, says Minerva

Greater availability of labor is a differentiator in the region.

Currently responsible for 40% of global beef trade, South America is expected to advance another 10 percentage points in five years, moving to 50%, estimated this Tuesday (11/28) by the CEO of Minerva Foods, Fernando Galletti de Queiroz. The company is the largest beef exporter in the continent.

‘50% of the world trade will be in our hands in less than five years, the market today is 40%,’ said the executive about South America during the Minerva Day.

According to him, in addition to competitiveness and a wide offer of cattle, a major differentiator of the region is the greater availability of labor compared to North America, for example, to work in the industry.

‘The availability of labor in the Northern Hemisphere is not going to change. It is much cheaper and more competitive to meet (labor) in South America than in North America,’ he emphasized.

The partner of the consultancy MB Agro, Alexandre Mendonça de Barros, highlighted that a relevant characteristic of South America is the elasticity of the cattle supply, in response to the technological advances of livestock farming.

‘The system is extremely dynamic, we are producing more calves with the same number of females. We still don’t even know what the size of this productivity gain is as a result of genetics, fertilization,’ said the expert during the event.

In this scenario, the CEO of Minerva believes that the company is the most diversified, ‘in the best place on the planet to produce beef,’ which is in line with the strategy seen in the recent acquisition of 16 units from Marfrig, by Minerva, with the intention of expanding operations on the continent.

‘We had three transformational moments, one was when we bought bovine assets from BRF; another was the acquisition of JBS’s assets, in 2017, which allowed the consistent strategy of geographical diversification; and now from Marfrig, which consolidate us as a South American player,’ Queiroz said.

Traslated from: Globo Rural.