The Global Livestock Report

A more than 3% drop in the exchange rate during December and favorable weather for pasture management led to a decline in cattle supply in Paraguay. Additionally, most producers had already completed their sales before the holiday season.

Export steer prices in Argentina continued their upward trend, rising another AR$ 100 per kg. Top-quality grainfed steers, mostly British crossbreds, are now quoted between AR$ 7,600 and 7,900 per kg dressed. Crossbred zebu steers moved up to a range of AR$ 7,300 to 7,600 per kg dressed.

Argentina’s Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries issued Resolution 242/2025 to define the distribution rules for beef quotas to the EU, UK and United States over the coming years.

Argentina’s Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (SAGyP) welcomed the EU's decision to postpone implementation of the new Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) until December 30, 2026, calling it “a step in the right direction, aligned with the many efforts and concerns raised by the Argentine government, and ensuring that Argentina’s agri-food exports to the EU are not subject to new environmental requirements.”

According to sources in the Argentine meat industry, the Chinese government has decided that the safeguard measures announced in December 2024 — aimed at protecting its domestic beef industry and whose publication has been delayed — will take the form of a country-specific quota that will continue to be subject to the 12% tariff.

Uruguayan packers continue to show a calm approach, with little urgency to buy cattle for the last slaughter weeks of the year. “They are in a light position in terms of procurement, and when they close deals, they do so at the prices they propose,” a market source told WBR.