Production Cost Feedlot Beef Cattle In The Southeast And Central-Western Regions Of Brazil: Analyzes From 2017 To 2019

Abstract The aims were to evaluate and compare the total cost (TC) and feedlot cattle production cost index (ICBC) in the states of São Paulo (SP) and Goiás (GO) from April of 2017 until December of 2019. In addition, the progress of ICBC was compared with the General Price Index - Internal Availability (IGP-DI) in that same period. This research has been developed at the Laboratory of Socioeconomic Analyses and Animal Science (LAE) of the University of São Paulo (USP). The LAE monitors all the prices of basic inputs used in the feedlot system monthly these states and updates the data to create the ICBC. The feedlot of the states of SP and GO were delimited in three representative properties, two for SP (CSPm and CSPg) and one for GO (CGO). We found that among the evaluation period the accumulated inflation by the IGP-DI was 15.1%, while in the ICBC it was 22%, 21.7% and 38.3% for CSPm, CSPg and CGO, respectively. In other words, there was a real increase of 6.9%, 6.6% and 23.2%, in that same order, for farmers. CSPm, CSPg and CGO showed similar TC in April 2017 and September 2019. However, in October 2019 the TC per kg of live weight (LW) increased until the end of the evaluation period (December 2019), this being $3.52, $3.46 and $3.62 per kg of LW, respectively. Our findings on cost items increased more in the State of GO than SP. Purchase animals and the inputs of the diet were the main cost items that influence the TC. It was concluded that in the southeast and central-western regions of Brazil, farmers had real increases in their production costs in the feedlot. Furthermore, there was greater variability in ICBC compared to IGP-DI.