No Organized Buyout of Store Cattle in Local Market – Problem for Producers

There is no organized buyout of store cattle in the local market, which is causing problems for the producers. One of the causes is that there's no export. Associations estimate that there's currently a surplus of around 12,000 cattle and that the state should intervene, through the Commodity Reserves, by purchasing at least 3,500.

At the farm of Dusan Kanazir in Mosorin, the fattened cattle weighs up to 700 kilograms individually. They should have been sold two months ago, but there are no buyers.

Depending on the breed, the price is 1.20 to 1.60 euros per kilogram, around 60% less than before the outbreak of coronavirus.

– Even when a buyer appears, the price is ridiculous – Kanazir said.

Butcher shops expect the drop in the prices of live animals to lead to a drop in the price of beef.

– The purchasing power of those who used to buy large quantities of meat to make minced meat products and meat for restaurants is gone. There's been a huge drop in sales – says Nebojsa Tomic, the owner of a butcher shop.

The Agroprofit association, which gathers cattle farmers, says that they alone can offer 3,000 animals to meat packing plants. The measures of the Ministry of Agriculture for the development of cattle fattening are now annulled by the state of the market and for that reason they propose for the state to help the producers.

– Maybe there could be an exchange for mercantile corn or maybe money could be directed to reserves and pay for the cattle now and have it processed in meat packing plants. I believe that farms would settle for 2.1 or even just 2 euros, cause the price now is shameful – said Cedomir Keco of Agroprofit.

On average, four kilograms of beef is consumed per person in Serbia, for which 80,000 fattened cattle is enough per year. Everything above that is a surplus, which cannot be spent without exports.

Udrženje Agroprofit

Ministarstvo poljoprivrede, šumarstva i vodoprivrede Republike Srbije

cattle farmers associations

Agroprofit

Ministry of Agriculture

Commodity Reserves

Dušan Kanazir

Nebojša Tomić

Čedomir Keco

purchase of store cattle

coronavirus

Mošorin

butcher shops