…live animal export to South Africa remains strong despite some reductions
Nghiinomenwa-vali Erastus
For the months of January and February, the country has only slaughtered 10,753
heads of cattle for export and for domestic consumption, compared to the 15,836 heads
of cattle slaughtered during the same period last year.
This is according to the latest Meat Board of Namibia monthly statistics.
Meatco's two-month beef output projects signs of a weakening beef trade picture, which
was the worst monthly slaughter the past two years.
The Meat Board assessment has found that the low slaughtering and live export is due to
low supply from the producers during the second month of the year relative to the same
period in 2022.
Furthermore, the country's beef export to Norway has reduced to 21,331 kilogrammes
for January and February 2023 compared to 390,060 kilogrammes exported in 2022.
Meanwhile, Meatco has secured the majority of the 2023 Norway quota, according to
allocations made by the Meat Board.
Meatco has been allotted 1200 tonnes, while BeefCor has been allocated 400 tonnes of
the total 1600 tonnes available.
Meanwhile, beef export to China has fallen from 153,948 kilogrammes for January and
February 2022 to 45,582 kilogrammes in January and February 2023.
As the country reduces internal slaughtering, the weaner export to South Africa remain
strong despite some reductions.
For the first two months of 2023 the country has exported 18,177 weaners mostly to
South Africa, a small reduction from 18,336 exported last year during the same period.
The Meat Board indicated marketing activities within the cattle sector slowed during
February 2023. Year-on-year, animals marketed across all segments during the month
recorded double-digit contractions of 24.5%, it said.
In the first two months of 2023, statistics show that local slaughtering by export abattoir
stood at 7,928 while local butchers' slaughter fell to 2,825 cattle for two months.
Together, the country has slaughtered 10,753 head of cattle – a number which is 5,083
lower than last year's slaughter the same period.
The Meatco Export Abattoirs, south of the Red Line, only managed to get 1,321 cattle to
slaughter for the two months compared to 5,998 the same period last year.
However, the private beef abattoir, Beefcor Meat Suppliers Retail & Wholesale, got
6,294 cattle compared to 4,005 it received in January and February this year.
The Katima Mulilo abattoir slaughtered 313 cattle compared to zero slaughter during
the same period last year as the company experienced challenges of disease outbreaks
that disrupted operations.
Total beef exported for the first two months of 2023 stood at 844 368 kilogrammes
compared to 1.2 million kilogrammes last year, with the biggest decline observed in
export to Norway.
As for the butcheries that supply the local formal market, collectively they slaughtered
5,549 head of cattle for the two months, which is significantly low compared than the
2,825 slaughtered the same period
