Though regional Southern African Development Community agreements stipulate the imports to SA cannot be limited, the local body says it has "taken steps" to ensure no dumping occurs. CEO Gerhard Schutte says prices for the 3500t of Botswana beef sold in SA will be closely monitored. "They cannot sell the beef here for less than it costs them to produce," he says. But he concedes that Botswana's production costs are lower than SA's and it is an "issue of competition".
"It is good news for local consumers," says Schutte. "Greater supply will obviously bring down prices."
Botswana's meat trade is handled by the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), whose abattoirs in Lobatse and Francistown were part of SA's Red Meat Abattoir Association before quitting last month.
Schutte says Botswana abattoirs by agreement used SA prices as a basis for theirs. "They have now said they will have their own system," he says.
Behind these developments has been an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease that has disrupted Botswana's meat trade with the EU. The BMC says in a statement it lost more than 400m pula between 2009 and 2011 and forecasts a P77m loss this year. Besides foot-and-mouth outbreaks "in Botswana and neighbouring states" it also blames the international financial meltdown, exchange fluctuations and "loss of the lucrative European market for the 18 months from the beginning of 2011". The Botswana government has loaned the BMC more than P350m this year, it adds.
The delinking from SA abattoirs will allow the BMC to distinguish between "EU compliant" and "non-EU compliant holdings" and charge different rates. It hopes the EU trade will resume soon. The stoppage has caused a "massive" build-up of stock in Botswana and SA, using up its cold-storage facilities and making it unable to store for the EU market. "The strategic threat is that we will have no capacity to take advantage of re-access into the EU market," it says.
Botswana agriculture minister Christiaan de Graaf has said the loss-making BMC will not be sold or privatised. He also opposes the export of weaners to SA feedlots, saying: "Botswana will not become a grazing ground for feedlots in SA while I am minister. If you export your raw material you export jobs. We must build our industry in our own country."
Source: Financial Mail
For more than two decades, I-Net Bridge has been one of South Africa’s preferred electronic providers of innovative solutions, data of the highest calibre, reliable platforms and excellent supporting systems. Our products include workstations, web applications and data feeds packaged with in-depth news and powerful analytical tools empowering clients to make meaningful decisions.
We pride ourselves on our wide variety of in-house skills, encompassing multiple platforms and applications. These skills enable us to not only function as a first class facility, but also design, implement and support all our client needs at a level that confirms I-Net Bridge a leader in its field.
Go to: http://www.inet.co.za
