By Jose Orozco, Gerson Freitas Jr. and Alex Vasquez
The U.S. is suspending imports of live cattle, horses, and bison via ports along the southern border because of the spread of a parasitic fly in Mexico that’s dangerous to livestock.
The suspension is effective immediately, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Sunday. “There has been unacceptable northward advancement” of the New World screwworm, which is a flesh-eating fly, and further action is needed to slow its spread, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture statement.
Safeguarding the nation’s livestock is “a national security issue of the utmost importance,” Rollins said, adding that the measure “is not about politics or punishment of Mexico, rather it is about food and animal safety.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government doesn’t agree with the U.S. decision, because the country is applying all the measures needed to eradicate the pest since the first alert on it was issued. “We hope that very soon this measure, which we consider unjust, will be lifted,” she said Monday during a press conference.
The restriction threatens to exacerbate a U.S. shortage that has already sent cattle costs to record highs, wiping-out billions in meat-processor profits and fueling beef price hikes at grocery stores. Imports of cattle from Mexico, a key U.S. supplier, had been initially banned in November after the detection of the pest. The restriction was lifted in February.
Futures of feeder cattle — as the calves that are sent to feedlots to be fattened up before slaughter are known — rose as much as 1.7 percent in Chicago to an all-time-high of $3.0535 per pound. The commodity has gained more than 15 percent this year.
“Futures markets are likely to begin pricing in greater supply risk for later in the year,” the Steiner Consulting Group said Monday in a note to clients.
The screwworm is a parasitic fly. Its larvae eat the living tissue of warm-blooded animals, including livestock and wild animals. It was eradicated in the U.S. in the 1980s after a successful biological barrier program carried out with Mexico and Central American nations.
But in 2023, screwworm detections in Panama surged from an average of 25 cases per year to more than 6,500 cases in one year, according to the USDA. Since then, it has been detected in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Mexico. Its spread has raised concerns among U.S. ranchers that the pest could return to the country.
Mexico and the U.S. will review the imports suspension in two weeks, though the measure will continue on a monthly basis until there is significant containment, the Department of Agriculture said.
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