Mexico Targets Doubling Beef Exports Amid Screwworm Crisis

Mexico's primary meat industry group has set an ambitious goal to double its beef exports to the United States in the upcoming year. This strategy aims to offset substantial financial losses incurred from a border closure, now in its first year, which was mandated to contain a widespread screwworm outbreak. The parasite's northward spread from Central America has severely disrupted livestock trade between the two nations.

According to the Mexican Meat Chamber, the border closure has already resulted in approximately $1.8 billion in losses for the country's livestock sector. In response, Mexico's cattle industry is undergoing a costly transformation, with ranchers now holding, feeding, and processing live animals domestically for export as beef, a transition that is estimated to take around 18 months.

As of May 17, Mexico has recorded 25,107 screwworm cases, with 1,190 remaining active. While Chiapas has seen the highest total cases, Veracruz and Puebla now host the largest concentrations of active infections. Efforts to halt the outbreak's progression include the dispersal of sterile flies in northern states and a buffer zone near Texas. A new sterile fly production plant in Metapa, Chiapas, is approximately 75% complete and anticipated to commence operations by the end of June.