Gross revenue from Uruguay’s beef cattle sector was the second highest in 2024/25

Uruguayan cattle ranching closed out a strong 2024/25 season, driven by a buoyant international market with high prices that were passed on to cattle values, both for slaughter animals and for replacement and breeding stock. Final sales from the beef cattle sector are estimated at around US$ 2.9 billion, second only to the peak of over US$ 3.3 billion in 2021/22, when Uruguay set records for slaughter and prices.

The average value of beef exported during the season was US$ 4,626 per ton carcass weight equivalent, 14.1% higher than the US$ 4,052 recorded in 2023/24. This improvement was largely reflected in the prices paid for the different categories. Steers averaged US$ 1,235 per head and cows US$ 951, with respective increases of 18% and 24% compared to the previous season. The larger increase in cow prices is linked to the fact that in the previous year, a relatively high proportion were poorly finished animals affected by drought. Additionally, there was a sharp drop in the number of cows slaughtered in 2024/25 —about 130,000 fewer head— while steer numbers contracted by only 4% year-on-year. In contrast, there was a strong 10% increase in the slaughter of heifers, reaching almost 330,000 head.

In total, 2.32 million cattle were slaughtered in Uruguay during the 2024/25 (Jul-Jun) season, plus 387,000 live cattle exports. Therefore, final sales removed 2.706 million cattle from the system, slightly above the previous season due to the increase in live cattle exports, which more than offset the nearly 60,000-head decline in slaughter.

Considering a herd of 11.32 million cattle at the start of the season, the extraction rate was 23.9%, the second highest in history, only behind the 24.7% of 2021/22.

The moderate increase in the number of animals extracted from the system was boosted by a significant rise in the average value per animal. The average value of slaughtered cattle rose 21% year-on-year to US$ 1,099 per head, positively impacted both by higher prices across categories and by the greater relative weight of steers in the slaughter total. Therefore, cattle sector revenue from sales to slaughterhouses rose 18% year-on-year to US$ 2.549 billion. Adding the US$ 353 million from live cattle exports, total revenue reached US$ 2.902 billion, a solid 20% increase over the previous season and just below the 2021/22 record.