In the first three quarters of this year, the country’s cumulative beef exports were up 25% from the same period in 2023, at US$136 million. The key markets include China, Egypt, UAE, Jordan, Mozambique, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
But this has not always been the case. The industry has struggled in recent years.
First, I must clarify that the exports are also up in volume, not just the price gains. So, now that is out of the way, what are these struggles that I am talking about? Well, one of the challenges we have focused on this year in South Africa’s agriculture is – livestock health.
We had roughly three years of animal disease outbreaks across the country – foot and mouth disease in cattle, avian influenza in poultry, and African swine fever in pigs. Sure –animal disease outbreaks are not unique to South Africa and are common across the world, but South Africa’s challenges have intensified in the recent past because of some biosecurity weaknesses.
In 2022, six of South Africa’s nine provinces reported foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks. This was the first time in the country’s history that the disease had spread this wide. The challenging place the country found itself in prompted the government and industry stakeholders to increase their focus on strengthening farm biosecurity controls and surveillance.
Other interventions that are still underway include efforts to improve South Africa’s veterinary and related support services (mainly the laboratories) that deal with vaccine production needs.
The cost of diseases in the livestock industry is felt through the loss of livestock and reduced exports to the world market during outbreaks. This was the case in 2022, where exports declined notably (-16% y/y). Thus, I started by highlighting the recovery in exports.
Livestock and poultry account for roughly half of agriculture’s gross value added. Moreover, livestock also significantly contributes to the inclusion of black farmers in commercial agricultural production. Therefore, the prevalence of animal disease outbreaks in the past few years slowed transformation.
The good news only came on October 25, 2024, when the Department of Agriculture signalled that the country had made excellent progress in controlling the disease. And yes, KZN and EC still face some challenges.
The Department announced that the foot and mouth disease outbreak, which occurred during 2021-2022, has been successfully resolved in the NW, FS, GP, and MP. These provinces, initially impacted by the outbreak, have now completed comprehensive testing of animals on quarantined farms. The results indicate that the foot and mouth disease virus is no longer present.
It is this improvement in the control of diseases that has partly contributed to the recovery in exports. This is an excellent work of industry and government.
Of course, the promotion of exports by many great private South African companies, organizations and industry representatives such as RMIS is vital. We must work more strongly to open export markets, especially in the BRICS grouping, broader Middle East, and EU, amongst other areas.
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