By: Nghiinomenwa Erastus
On average, Namibians have imported around 605 326 kilograms of pork every month.
More than half of this is imported from South Africa, then the rest is sourced from eight European countries namely Germany, France, UK, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Denmark, and Ireland.
This is according to the monthly statistics for August 2021 compiled by the Meat Board of Namibia.
From January to August this year, the statistics show that the country has imported 4,8 million kilograms of pork, including processed pork.
South Africa was the only African market in the mix, the rest are European.
For last year, during the same period, the country had bought 3,5 million kilograms of pork from outside.
In terms of local production, for the last eight months ended in August, the country has slaughtered 29 408 pigs locally.
The data also shows that the country slaughtered between 3 000 to 3 800 pigs every month, during the eight-month period.
The trend has also been observed in last year’s data, except for two months where slaughter went beyond 4 000 pigs.
This shows consistent demand from the market.
Another trend picked up in pigs marketing and pork production is that all the slaughtered pigs are for local consumption.
For the eight months period, the country has not sold any of its pork nor live pigs export to the external market.
The country has only tried pork export last year, once in February to the European market- since then nothing.
Despite the consistent slaughter from local farmers, every month pork import does not change- highlighting the supply gap in the country.
In terms of pork prices, the eight-month trend provided by the Meat Board shows that pork is expensive compared to last year.
On average, a piece of pork per kilogram cost around N$38,29 compared to N$34,83 recorded last year by Meat Board. Email: erastus@thevillager.com.na
