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The swine industry in Argentina continues to exhibit strong momentum, with uninterrupted growth in the last few years.
In 2022, 7.7 million pigs were slaughtered, which represented an all-time record for the country, and an increase of 2.5% compared to 2021.
Total production reached 723,380 tons (tce), a 4% increase year-on-year. Argentina more than doubled its pork production in the last 10 years and has increased it fivefold in the last 20 years.
According to projections from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), in line with the production dynamics so far in 2023, Argentina is on track to break a record this year, with a potential production of 760,000 tons of pork (tce).
In the first four months of this year, 2.56 million head of pigs were slaughtered with production reaching close to 240,000 tons of pork; this is already 7% higher than the same period in 2022 and marks an all-time high for the first four months of the year.
Figure 1. Pork production in Argentina. Source: BRCmercados based on SAGyP and USD data.
Argentina continues to tap foreign markets
In the last five years, Argentineans have increased their per capita consumption of pork by 20%, which represents an additional nearly 3 kilograms of pork per inhabitant per year.
The increase in production is not enough to meet domestic demand, so in the last five years between 30,000 and 40,000 tons had to be imported per year in order to meet consumption needs.
However, the gap between consumption and production is getting smaller and smaller, and this opens up a vein for export development.
The year 2022 was very poor in terms of exports, which fell to their lowest volume since 2015. This year Argentina had to resort mainly to Brazil to meet its consumption, closing with a trade deficit of USD100 million. The year 2023, however, presents better prospects than last year; in the first quarter, imports fell by half compared to the previous year in the same period, while exports grew by 40%, allowing the trade deficit to shrink considerably.
Figure 2. The capacity of production to supply domestic consumption. Source: Department of Economic Information and Studies based on SAGyP
June 2, 2023/ Rosario Stock Exchange/ Argentina.
https://www.bcr.com.ar/
