Indicators of the competitiveness of Mexican beef in the world market

Abstract

The purpose of the present research is to assess the position and tendency of the competitiveness of Mexican beef carcasses versus the foreign supply, as well as the relationship between this commercial advantage, the domestic production and exportation that may allow proposing strategies to enhance livestock production in the medium term. In order to meet this goal, four indicators of competitiveness were estimated based on the procedure set forth by the Interamerican Institute of Cooperation for Agriculture, and the degree of association between variables was determined using Pearson’s coefficient. The volume of the primary supply of beef positions Mexico in the seventh place worldwide, while as an exporter country it occupies the fifteenth place. The exportation of beef was found to have as its main destination the market of the United States of America, and the domestic production has a low level of competitiveness in the international market. The behavior of the production and exportation of Mexican beef is influenced by factors linked to the characteristics of the market and of the commercial process, as well as with natural phenomena, which determine both the productivity and the generation of exportable surpluses of carcass meat and of value for the economy of the country.