Optimism abounds in the agricultural industry following the lifting of a three-year ban on South African red meat exports after the International Animal Health Organisation (OIE) declared the country to be free of foot and mouth disease. Since the 2011 ban, South Africa has lost around R4 billion per annum in related agricultural exports, according to the National Agriculture Marketing Council. “It’s been very tough for the agricultural sector as the ban not only affected red meat exports but related products too – such as pork, wool, dairy, hides and skins and stud animals,” said Red Meat Producers’ Organisation chief executive, Gerhard Schutte. Commenting on the validity of the ban, Schutte said the foot and mouth disease outbreak was never a real threat. “It was simply a question of trade barriers being misused by the first world against the first world,” he said. The ban was a double blow to wool producers as it came shortly after the ban on wool exports to China in 2009 due to a Rift Valley Fever scare, said Harry Prinsloo, national chairman of the National Wool Growers’ Association (NWGA). He told FTW that one of the biggest challenges of the ban was that it affected South Africa’s credibility as an exporter. “In the three years it was difficult to get our products out, especially to Egypt,” he said. However, Prinsloo believes the lifting of the ban has levelled the playing field in the international arena. “There has also been increased global demand for raw wool – which is mainly what South Africa exports – and that opens up new markets,” he commented. Export markets have not yet officially been reopened as the government will first need to negotiate with former trading partners, according to Mpho Maja, director of animal health at the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. “We hope all red meat producers will take advantage of the lifting of the ban and aggressively start marketing their products internationally,” said David Wolpert, chief executive of the Association of Meat Importers and Exporters SA. He told FTW that the Middle East market had been reopened, especially Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which up until now have been closed to SA red meat exports. INSERT & CAPTION 1 We hope all SA red meat producers take advantage of the lifting of the ban to start aggressively marketing their products. – David Wolpert INSERT 2 The Middle Eastern market, particularly Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has now opened up to SA red meat exports. CAPTION SA 'steakes' it claim Agriculture minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson (right) and Mpho Maja, director of animal health at Daff, pictured at a press conference last week announcing the lifting of the three-year ban on exports of red meat and other related agricultural products. Exporters have praised the department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Daff) for lobbying with the International Scientific Commission for Animal Diseases for the recovery of foot and mouth diseasefree status for South Africa which led to the lifting of the ban, estimated to have cost the country around R4bn in lost income per annum.
