Although domestic consumption and
exports dropped in 2015, for cattle raisers it
was a positive cycle. This was because both
fattened up and replacement cattle – lean
animals and calves – fetched higher prices.
Females, as a result of soaring young cattle
prices, also fetched higher prices, while the
cattle farmers decided to keep their animals
for longer periods, with an eye on higher
profits. Record prices throughout the year
and the conquest of new markets, like Chi-
na and the United States, brought to conclu-
sion the season with success.
From January through December 2015,
calf prices went up 16.2%, representing the
highest price increases among all cattle raising
categories. So much so that, according to an-
alysts from the Center for Applied Studies on
Advanced Economics (Cepea), of the Luiz de
Compensation for loss
Despite declining domestic consumption and shrinking exports,
2015 was a year of plenty for cattle raisers, with the opening of newmarkets
Queiroz College of Agriculture (Esalq), a divi-
sion of the University of São Paulo (USP), aver-
age calf prices reached an all-time record of R$
1,360, in 2015. As the price of cattle fattened
up to the finished weight also soared, but did
not keep pace with the skyrocketing price of
the calves, the exchange relation reached the
worst results in the history of São Paulo. No
less than 9.25 arrobas of meat (139 kilograms)
were needed to buy a weaned beef calf.
These higher prices had reflections on the
margins of the feedlot owners and beef finish-
ers, whose buying power shrank over the year,
as prices of lean cattle remained on a par with
calf prices, resulting into higher production
costs. As things were, there was need for the
systems to become more efficient, that is, gen-
erate more weight per carcass, without pro-
longing the confinement time.
With Brazil going through a complex mo-
ment in political and economic terms, beef
consumption dropped in the domestic mar-
ket. This scenario, consisting of more expen-
sive raw material, with smaller demand at the
other end, caused some meat packing indus-
tries to shut down. Péricles Salazar, president
of the Brazilian Association of Meat Packing In-
dustries (Abrafrigo), informs that 34 meat pro-
cessing plants put an end to their operations in
2015,representingalossof20thousandjobpo-
sitions. For the foreign market, the good news
camewith the conquest of the Chinesemarket
in the second half of the year, which increased
the sales and, in part, made up for the poor
performance of other relevant clients. Even so,
sales lagged behind the 2014 performance.
Prices of cattle and calves
outstripped beef prices in
2015
23
Produção e comércio mundial de carne bovina (em milhões de toneladas)
MAIS DEMANDA
Rising demand
Fonte:
FAO, junho de 2016. – *Resultado preliminar. – ** Projeção inicial.
Fator
2014
2015*
2016**
Variação
Produção mundial
68,0
67,9
68,4
0,8%
Comércio internacional
9,6
9,1
9,3
1,3%
