Introduction

The main objective of this section is to give an introduction into the cattle business in Bolivia and to show the high rentability of the cattle business in its various phases.

Cattle breeding

Despite the last years’ climatic phenomena, crises on the financial markets, as well as the political and social instability of the region, livestock enterprises show positive results every year. This can be explained through comparatively low initial investment costs, stable product prices and controllable expenses.

Basis

The average beef consumption in Bolivia is 20 kg per year per capita. Hence, approximately 475,000 head of cattle are slaughtered every year and considerable marketing opportunities (local as well as export in the future) can be stated. Currently, the average price of beef (live weight) is 10.5 Bs/kg; based on statistics it can be added that during the past five years, prices have increased 10% annualy.

Cattle breeding can be seen as an economic activity that consists of breeding and exploiting the livestock in order to benefit from the cattle or its derived products. This can become a highly lucrative enterprise with a profit margin above 30%.