Cows, Pampas, and the Best Meat in the World

While the timeline begins in 1555, when the Spanish herded the best livestock introduced to the country from Potosí to Tucumán, it is from 1880 onward when the meat became the central driver of local economic growth.

Access to meat was a fundamental factor behind the country’s construction. Cows generated fortunes for landowners, and with exports, they became the main Argentinean ambassadors worldwide.

Created in 1901, Mercado de Liniers in the city of Buenos Aires has turned into the most important center for livestock transactions in the country, and includes around 20% of the total workforce.

Bidding among buyers determines the guiding principles for national livestock prices.

The Mercado de Liniers estate spans over 34 hectares, with 32 springs, 450 cow corrals, 40 automatic scales, 2,000 sales corrals, radio and television stations, as well as sections for commercial, fiscal, and sanitary checks.

The work begins with the unloading of the cattle between 6 p.m. and 5 a.m. the following morning. Once the data is verified, a sanitary check of the animals is performed. After arriving at the corrals, they are classified and weighed.

After the auction that starts at 8 in the morning, the cattle are assigned buyer numbers and immediately loaded onto trucks bound for slaughterhouses.

The journey from the countryside to the slaughterhouse is made by truck. The average load is 400 vehicles per day, meaning that between 35,000 and 40,000 cows are loaded each week. Around 200 employees take part in the full process.

Like any competitive market, the price of the meat is determined by supply and demand. In practice, regardless of what the production chain is like, how much the customer pays is ultimately determined at the butcher’s.

3.17 million tons of meat is produced, of which 917,200 tons are exported. It is estimated that beef consumption was 110 pounds (50 kilos) per capita last year, its lowest historic value and a figure that reconfirms its downward trend.

Average beef consumption in Argentina peaked in 1956, reaching 222 pounds (100.8 kilos). Currently, despite the decrease, both Argentina and Uruguay occupy the number one spot worldwide in terms of consumption.

If you add the 97 pounds (44 kilos) of chicken and 31 pounds (14 kilos) of pork to the 110 pounds (50 kilos) of beef, consumption of the three varieties rose last year to around 238 pounds (108 kilos) per person.