Dairy products imports increase by 13.5%
MBABANE – The past festive season has seen the country’s imports of dairy products increasing by about 13.5 per cent when compared to the 2022 festive season imports.
According to the latest statistics of dairy imports from the Eswatini Dairy Board (EDB), the total amount or quantity of dairy products in December 2023 was 3 277 224 litres/kilogrammes (kg/L), while in December 2022 they amounted to 2 831 774.95.
It is worth noting that the amount of dairy products imports for December 2023 was slightly lower than that of November 2023, where they amounted to 3 584 759 kg/L.
The country still imports products like emasi (sour milk), yoghurt, fresh milk and fresh cream, among others, which are sufficiently produced in the country.
It is worth noting that during the month of December, the highest importation was of UHT Milk, which amounted to 1 895 382 kg/L, followed pasturised milk (bulk) which amounted to 303 300 kg/L.
Original
The least imported product was artificial honey (303 kg/L) while 7 397 kg/L of original honey was imported during the month under review.
There are various investment opportunities in all the stages of the dairy value chain that are exposed and yet to be exploited. The dairy industry in the country, when calculated is worth over E1 billion. This is inclusive of the values of imports, local milk produced, dairy farm establishments and the value of dairy products processed in the country. With a robust investment in the dairy sector, the projected figures, especially imports, may decline with a significant increase in domestic production and job opportunities.
Other opportunities are available in feed manufacture, which include hay making and dairy feed manufacturing. The industry boasts of various investment opportunities and encourages investment into it.
The dairy industry in Eswatini consists of a number of industry role-players, which includes farmers (smallholder, medium and large-scale dairy farmers), processors, distributors, retailers and consumers.
In addition, there are also importers, exporters and transistors of dairy products. Meanwhile, consumption of dairy products was estimated to be 88.44 million litres as of 2020. About 76.6 per cent of the dairy products consumed in the country come through imports and the remainder is produced locally.
Domestic production continues to fall short of the rising demand for dairy products in the country.
The local dairy market is said to be still boasting a lot of potential which needs to be exploited. Emasi (sour milk) is one of the main products produced locally. Sour milk is also imported in high quantities, which demonstrates the availability of a market that is yet to be exploited.
Protect
In a bid to protect the dairy industry, back in 2020, EDB proposed a 40 per cent import levy which was supposed to kick-start in the following year.
EDB had proposed that the import levy be charged on all dairy products which are sufficiently produced locally, such as emasi (sour milk), yoghurt, fresh milk and fresh cream.
The levy was supposed to kick in on July 1, but there were reportedly registered concerns from some of the stakeholders who felt the timing could be bad due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.