Brazil & Southern Cone - January 2012 (ISSN 1741-4431)

Inflation reached 8.6% in 2011, Uruguay’s national statistics institute, Ine, reported. This exceeded the target range of 4%-6% set by the government and was up on 6.9% in 2010. It was also the highest rate in the region after Venezuela and Argentina. On the plus side inflation has stayed below double digits for seven consecutive years, the longest stretch since records began in 1939. President Mujica, who described inflation last year as “a slippery eel”, said the figure was “not disastrous” but added that lower inflation is a government priority.

Unemployment was just 5.5% in November 2011, down from 5.7% a month earlier and close to the December 2010 mark of 5.4%, the lowest in decades. Fewer than 100,000 Uruguayans of working age, primarily women and young people, are unemployed.

Uruguay smashed its export record in 2011. Exports totalled US$8.02bn, up 18.5% on 2010, according to official figures. It is the second year in a row that Uruguay has broken its previous export record. Once again, however, exports were outstripped by imports, which increased by 23.5% on 2010 to US$8.57bn last year. Brazil is Uruguay’s main trading partner, taking 20.3%, or US$1.63bn, of total exports. China is now the second largest recipient of Uruguayan exports, accounting for US$665m, up 78.3% on 2010, leapfrogging Argentina, with 7.3%, or US$558m, as a result of Argentine protectionism.

Beef sales were down on 2010. They totalled 336,755 tonnes in 2011, compared with 366,225 tonnes in 2010. The volume of cattle going to slaughter fell by 8.7% in 2011 to 2.01m on the previous year, the lowest level since 2004. Higher prices, however, meant that the value of beef exports climbed by 18% in 2011 over the previous year to US$1.33bn. Total meat sales, including beef, lamb, pork, equine and chicken in 2011, totalled US$1.65bn.