The European Union's ban on Brazilian meat imports is reshaping the global protein market and opening a historic opportunity for Paraguay, says Marcos Medina, former Minister of Agriculture and Livestock and an agribusiness specialist.
According to Medina, the international market is experiencing an unprecedented situation, with roughly 30 consecutive months of beef supply falling short of demand, which is driving a prolonged upward trend in prices. "We have never before seen a situation where supply fails to meet demand for this long. We are facing one of the greatest opportunities for food-producing countries," he said.
Although Brazil faces restrictions in some markets — including questions related to the use of growth promoters — Medina notes that there is a competitive component within Mercosur, but the global beef deficit reduces the impact of a major supplier's temporary absence. He recommended caution regarding the European Union's upcoming decisions, considering Brazil's productive and diplomatic weight, and pointed out that European demands involve sanitary, environmental, and food safety criteria, as well as mechanisms to protect local producers. "Each market is sovereign in setting its own access conditions. If we want to sell to Europe, we must meet its requirements," he said.
Medina highlighted that, in just over two decades, Paraguay has built a solid reputation as a supplier of quality beef and has gone from being virtually unknown in the global market to becoming one of the sector's leading exporters. For him, the country now needs to move forward in adding value to its product, exploring differential attributes such as grass-fed, open-air production with low antibiotic use.
Regarding domestic challenges, the specialist pointed out that the main bottleneck lies among small and medium-sized producers, where significant technological gaps persist. While the most technified operations have already found the path to productive efficiency, a large portion of the national herd is still managed under low-productivity systems. "There is a missing bridge between technified livestock farming and less developed operations. That represents enormous potential to increase national production," he said.
Commenting on the debate over a potential end to foot-and-mouth disease vaccination, Medina was emphatic: any decision requires consensus among all links in the production chain. "Until all stakeholders are in agreement, we should not move forward with suspending vaccination," he stated. Although he acknowledges that Paraguay has the technical and sanitary conditions to discuss the issue, he warned that a hasty measure could create uncertainty in the sector.
Finally, he defended the continuation of public-private coordination that, in his view, has enabled the country to achieve its current sanitary status and establish itself as a reliable supplier of meat in international markets.