Mexico, Paraguay Expand Meat Trade

Altosano Granjas Carroll has opened Paraguay’s market to Mexican pork with its first 22t shipment, while sanitary negotiations advance toward potential Paraguayan beef exports to Mexico in 2027. 

Altosano Granjas Carroll opened the Paraguayan market to Mexican pork and formally began exports to the country with the first shipment in the history of commercial trade between the two countries. The development came after the company met the stringent sanitary, food safety, and biosecurity requirements established by Paraguayan authorities.

The shipment, consisting of 22t of frozen pork, began its journey by sea, marking the start of a new trade route to South America. “Completing the first shipment to Paraguay represents a strategic achievement not only for Altosano, but for the entire Mexican pork industry… This milestone demonstrates the quality and rigor of Mexico’s pork production before international markets,” a company spokesperson stated.

The opening of the Paraguayan market expands Altosano’s international export destinations. The company already exports pork to the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Vietnam. The pork shipped to Paraguay was processed at the company’s Pork Processing Plant, located in Oriental, Puebla, which has biosecurity, automation and traceability processes to serve international markets.

Paraguay’s National Animal Quality and Health Service (SENACSA) is working to conclude sanitary negotiations aimed at enabling beef exports to Mexico in early 2027. In May 2026, Mexico’s National Service for Agro-Alimentary Public Health, Safety and Quality (SENASICA) conducted an inspection focused on verifying the quality and food safety controls implemented at export slaughterhouses and within the country’s official veterinary system. The objective was to assess the equivalence of Paraguay’s sanitary system with the one applied by Mexico to this type of import.

As part of the inspection, an audit team from SENASICA’s General Directorate of Agro-Alimentary, Aquaculture, and Fisheries Safety (DGIAAP) visited SENACSA’s central laboratory and 10 export slaughterhouses. SENACSA said the preliminary results were positive, although plant-specific findings and minor systemic observations were identified. The agency also highlighted Paraguay’s status as a foot-and-mouth disease-free country with vaccination, which facilitates the risk assessments required by Mexico.

The timeline established by Mexican authorities calls for SENASICA to submit the official audit report on Sept. 29. Paraguay will then have to respond to the observations by Dec. 1. Final authorization to export beef to the Mexican market could be granted on Feb. 2, 2027, although the process could be completed sooner.

Analysts highlight access to the US market as a key factor in the inspection process completed by Mexican sanitary authorities. Paraguay currently exports between 6,000t and 8,000t of beef to the United States each month. As of Aug. 31, cumulative shipments had reached 35,000t, and SENACSA projects that exports to the destination will reach 60,000t by year-end.

If this projection materializes, Paraguayan beef shipments to the US market would record year-on-year growth of approximately 20%. In this regard, Jose Carlos Martin, President, SENACSA, said that the opening of the US market to an additional 300,000t tariff-free quota for ground beef represents a significant opportunity for Paraguay, which aims to capture 10% of that volume over the next 90 days.

Mexico Maintains Strong Demand for Beef and Pork

Mexico maintains strong domestic demand for beef and pork. According to estimates from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Mexican beef production reached approximately 2.17Mt in carcass-weight equivalent in 2025, while consumption reached 2.2Mt. For 2026, production is projected at 2.3Mt, with consumption expected to remain close to the same level.

In terms of trade, the USDA expects Mexico to import about 345,000t of beef in 2026, a 5% increase from the previous year, while exports are estimated at around 335,000t. For pork, Mexico produced about 1.36Mt in 2025, while domestic consumption reached approximately 2.78Mt. Imports totaled a record 1.6Mt, an 8.8% year-on-year increase, making Mexico the world’s largest pork importer, ahead of Japan.

The United States remained the leading supplier, followed by Canada and Brazil, while Mexican pork exports reached approximately 190,000t. This gap between domestic production and consumption positions Mexico as a strategic market for international suppliers.