Shafaq News/ Uruguay, among the top cattle-exporting nations, increased its shipments of dairy and beef breeding stock with Iraq being among its top importers, Bloomberg reported.

Uruguay has shipped more than 1.29 million head in the past five years, mostly calves fattened and slaughtered at destinations such as Turkey, Iraq and Egypt, government data show.

Uruguay sees an opportunity to augment shipments of livestock to China as New Zealand exits the seaborne livestock trade.

The government’s efforts to diversify export markets are slowly bearing fruit with Saudi Arabia authorizing Uruguayan beef and lamb imports last year.

Meatpackers are doing brisk business again after the pandemic caused export revenue to fall 11% last year.

Beef shipments rose 28% from a year ago to $618 million in the four months through April, with China buying $341 million, according to data compiled by the government.