Argentina approves live cattle exports as beef shipments soar

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - The Argentine government has authorized the export of live cattle for slaughter, reversing a prohibition that had been in place for over five decades, after the country's beef exports last year reached their highest level in a century.

Argentina, famed for its beef cuts and traditional asado barbecue, is a ranching and farming powerhouse and a major exporter of processed soybeans, corn and wheat.

Sales from the country's agricultural sector to foreign markets provide the largest source of hard currency for central bank coffers, needed to finance imports and pay down debts.

In a statement on Wednesday, the agriculture secretariat said the policy reversal on cattle exports was a move towards "greater competition within the meat and livestock chain," in line with libertarian President Javier Milei's push to deregulate South America's second-biggest economy and boost growth.

Earlier this month, Milei's government enacted a five-month tax cut for exports of grains and their derivatives to try to promote sales abroad.

Late last year, Milei also backed a reduction in local duties charged on beef exports to 6.75% from the previous rate of 9%.

Last year, Argentina's beef exported rose 10% to reach slightly more than 935,000 metric tons of beef, its highest volume of shipments in a century. The 2024 figure was just under the 981,000 tons exported in 1924.

Argentina's beef exports include chilled and frozen cuts, in addition to processed beef products. They were shipped to 53 foreign markets last year, 11 more than in 2023.

Nearly 70% of the exports were to Chinese buyers, followed distantly by sales to the European Union and Israel.

(Reporting by Maximilian Heath; Editing by Christina Fincher and Barbara Lewis)

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