The documentary from the BBC World Service brings the globe to your ears through original documentary storytelling.

Search for The Documentary, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Hello and welcome to Business Daily with me, Natalio Kosoi.

I'm in Argentina, where beef is not just an industry, it's a way of life.

Sometimes we have a cow also as a reserve for capital, because it's better in Argentina to have cows than to have money in the

bank. Argentina is the second largest home market for beef in the world and is the fifth

biggest exporter. But inflation is soaring and it's threatening to make beef unaffordable for

ordinary people. In today's program, we look at the love of fare Argentinians have with beef

and what measures the government is taking to protect it.

This is Business Daily from the BBC.

Argentina is the second largest home market for beef in the world, and is the fifth biggest

exporter.

It exported around 850,000 tons of beef in 2021, worth close to $2.8 billion, and exports have grown in 2022, so has the international

price of beef. The government is so concerned about rising prices for Argentinians,

it's banned the export of seven beef cuts until the end of 2023.

To understand why beef is so important to Argentinians,

let's begin this journey in a neighborhood outside the capital, Buenos Aires,

in a somehow unexpected location.

I came to a building site in the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

It's an 18-story apartment building that is being constructed here.

Now, why, if we're talking about beef, am I here?

Well, the answer is in the smoky smell coming from a corner in the back of the site.

...