After a moderate slowdown during August, live cattle exports are beginning to pick up again this week, with a vessel loading pregnant heifers for Turkey, to be followed next week by two more, one also bound for Turkey and another for Morocco.
In August, according to Customs data, four ships carrying live cattle departed from the port of Montevideo, with Morocco, Turkey and Israel as destinations.
Mohamed Montasser, head of Gladenur in Uruguay, told Radio Carve that the vessel being loaded this week includes 7,500 pregnant heifers, mainly beef breeds (Angus and Hereford), but also some Holstein. Next week, a shipment of young bulls will be sent to Morocco and another vessel with pregnant heifers to Turkey.
Turkey’s demand this year has shifted from the traditional shipment of young bulls to heifers. There is a clear interest from the Turkish government in importing breeders, so they are subsidizing Turkish farmers to purchase these animals.
Montasser projected steady live cattle exports from Uruguay in the second half of the year. He said that in the case of Gladenur, the company will be shipping a volume similar to that of the first half.
Asked about the competitiveness of Uruguayan cattle in the international market, Gladenur’s head stated that “Uruguay is competitive because of the quality of its genetics.”
