Sales to the US remain brisk: nearly 30% of the new third-quarter quota already filled

Argentina shipped 53,196 tonnes of beef to the United States during the first half of the year, worth US$445 million, according to official government data. This represents 53% of the country's total annual allocation of 100,000 tonnes, which includes the traditional 20,000-ton quota plus an additional 80,000 tonnes granted for 2026 and distributed in four non-transferable quarterly allocations on a first-come, first-served basis.

According to US Customs data, nearly 14,000 tonnes of the traditional quota had been utilized by last week, equivalent to almost 70% of the total. Meanwhile, after the second-quarter allocation of the additional quota was fully exhausted, the third-quarter allocation is also being filled at a rapid pace. During the first ten days of July, more than 5,700 tonnes had already entered the US, equivalent to 28.6% of the quarterly allocation, while industry sources estimated that nearly 10,000 tonnes more were already in transit.