HomeNewsArgentina negotiates export of frozen bovine semen to US and Pakistan

Argentina negotiates export of frozen bovine semen to US and Pakistan

Nov, 28, 2018 Posted by datamarnews

Week 201848

According to Argentina’s Ministry of Agriculture, the country will soon export frozen bovine and bubaline semen to Pakistan for the first time. This move comes after Argentina’s National Health and Agri-Food Quality Service (Senasa) managed to obtain a sanitary certificate from Pakistani authorities. Pakistan is the latest entry to the export markets of bovine semen in addition to Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

Argentina is very close to sealing a fresh beef export deal with the US for the first time in nearly two decades. According to the Argentine government, the agreement is expected to be signed within days, opening avenues for beef to be traded both ways between the two countries. The agreement is that there will be an export cap of 20,000 tons for Argentina but no limits on US beef exports. Argentina stopped exporting beef to the US seventeen years ago amidst concerns over foot-and-mouth disease. The South American country produced 2.8m tons of beef and veal in 2017.

Argentina set to export bovine genetics to Pakistan

Source: https://www.globalmeatnews.com/Article/2018/11/26/Argentina-agrees-deal-with-Pakistan

Argentina’s Ministry of Agriculture has revealed that the South American country will export frozen bovine and bubaline semen to the Pakistan market for the first time.
The Ministry confirmed the move after the National Service of Health and Agri-Food Quality (Senasa) agreed a sanitary certificate with Pakistan authorities.
Argentina’s secretary of government Luis Miguel Etchevehere said the export deal further positions the country as a “world leader” in bovine genetics and aligns with its target of accessing new emerging markets.
Pakistan joins other export markets for bovine semen, including Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
“There are already more than 160 markets that we have reached, consolidating our goal of becoming the world’s supermarket,” said Etchevehere. “We position ourselves as a world leader in bovine genetics, which it translates into roots, work and technology for the country.”
The Ministry added that Artificial Insemination Centers wishing to export bovine semen to Pakistan must be registered with Senasa and these, as well as the donors and the semen to be exported, must comply with the sanitary requirements of that country, as reflected in the International Veterinary Certificate model.
Senasa complies with international recommendations for the collection and treatment of bovine semen from the Terrestrial Code of the World Organization for Animal Health.
Earlier this year, soaring demand for bovine meat in Argentina led to significant growth in exports to international markets.
Japan and Morocco also agreed a trade deal with the South American country to supply bovine during the summer.
“We are negotiating the reopening to happen over the days ahead,” said Marisa Bircher. “All the technical and administrative questions have been settled.”
The deal would also open a new market for the U.S. cattle sector, although demand for U.S. beef is low in Argentina
Argentina is on the verge of signing a deal with the United States that would allow two-way trade of fresh beef for the first time in nearly two decades, the country’s international trade secretary, Marisa Bircher, said. The agreement, expected to be signed within days, would simultaneously open beef imports to both countries, Bircher told Reuters in an interview.
“We are negotiating the reopening to happen over the days ahead,” she said. “All the technical and administrative questions have been settled.”
At a time when Argentina is seeking to boost beef sales abroad, the agreement would allow Argentina to show other prospective buyers that its meat is healthy enough to enter a country with some of the world’s toughest sanitary protocols.
The deal would also open a new market for the U.S. cattle sector, although demand for U.S. beef is low in Argentina. The country is famous for its quality steaks, some tender enough to be cut with a spoon, as demonstrated with a flourish by waiters in the iconic steak houses of Buenos Aires.
Argentina will have a 20,000-ton limit on its exports to the United States, Bircher said, while there will be no limit on U.S. beef going to Argentina.
U.S. beef passed a bureaucratic hurdle needed to access Argentina last week, according to a notice posted on Wednesday on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service website.
But before any U.S. beef can be exported to Argentina, meat companies need to register their products, processing plants and labels with Argentina’s National Service for Agrifood Health and Quality, said Joe Schuele, spokesman for the U.S. Meat Export Federation, a trade group.
The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service formally approved imports of fresh beef from northern Argentina in 2015, according to a document posted in the U.S. Federal Register.
The USDA still needs to certify Argentine processing plants that would ship meat to the United States to make sure they meet safety standards, said Bill Bullard, chief executive of U.S. cattle producers’ group R-CALF USA.
“Opening the border to raw beef from Argentina is certain to put downward pressure on U.S. cattle prices, and meat packers will be able to use this cheaper, undifferentiated beef as a direct substitute for beef produced by U.S. cattle producers,” he said.
Bircher said Argentina stopped exporting beef to the United States about 17 years ago due to U.S. concerns about contamination of Argentine cattle by foot-and-mouth disease. ”We have eliminated that through a vaccine program in our livestock sector,” she said.
Once one of the world’s top five beef suppliers, Argentina was hobbled under the anti-farm policies of the country’s previous president, Cristina Fernandez. The country fell off the top 10 list of beef exporters during her eight-year presidency.
It is back in the top 10, according to USDA data and could get into the top five next year thanks to the free-market policies of President Mauricio Macri and a sharp weakening of the local peso currency this year.
The United States produced 11.9 million tons of beef last year and exported 1.3 million tons, according to USDA data. Argentina produced 2.8 million tons of beef and veal in 2017, exceeding its domestic consumption by 293,000 tons in 2017.

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