Argentine might resume beef exports to Europe

On August 9, Argentine's Agriculture secretary Marcelo Regunaga announced that Argentina would be able to resume meat exports to Chile and Europe by September and that a European Union mission would be invited to inspect Argentine herds, Reuters reports. Argentina lost its prized status as free of foot-and-mouth disease earlier this year and consequently lost access to most of its major export markets for beef in March. The country shipped Euro672.5m worth of meat in 2000. According to an industry group, beef exports could fall about 60 per cent this year from 120,000 tons in 2000. "In September we will be in conditions to export, not only to Chile but to the European Union as well,"​ Regunaga said after meeting with the Chilean Agriculture secretary, Jaime Campos. "We will invite a mission from the EU, but to export we must have bilateral agreements,"​ Regunaga added. The government began a program to vaccinate 98 per cent of Argentina's more than 50 million head of cattle in April in an effort to stop the spread of the disease. According to the national food and animal health and quality inspection service Senasa, there are currently about 1,200 active outbreaks of the virus in Argentina.