SA beef ‘can increase share of global market’
THE SOUTH African beef industry stood a good chance of capturing a slice of the global export market if it competed with markets that exported lower volumes of better-quality beef, said the Beefmaster Group.
Roelie van Reenen, the supply chain executive at Beefmaster Group, said last week these markets were countries such as the Netherlands.
The supplier of beef products to South Africa, the Middle East and the Far East said although most of the growth in the global beef supply was from Brazil and Argentina, these markets were exporters of lower-value bulk beef products and should not be compared to South Africa.
“South American beef players all compete in a very tough pricing market, due to their huge scale. In contrast, South African beef has gained a reputation the world over for its premium quality. This is because our classification system makes our product unique in the world,” said Van Reenen.
He said the cattle that South Africa used for meat production was not as mature as those in the bulk export markets, which gave South African beef the advantage of a leaner taste, with less fat, making it much sought after.
“It has a pink tone in colour, almost like rosé veal, but it is not quite veal, and it is not quite US beef. It is in between,” he said.
He said local beef was loved in select markets such as the Middle and Far East.
Van Reenen said South Africa, together with some of the country’s neighbours, such as Namibia and Botswana, was in a “herd-rebuilding phase” following an extended period of drought.
“Cattle production figures are down across sub-Saharan Africa, but we are well on our way to make a recovery and build our herds. Following good rains, South Africa is on track to rebuild our national herds by 2022. It remains to be seen whether South Africa can both build capacity and increase the supply of quality beef,” said Van Reenen.
According to Beefmaster, the biggest barrier was access to more markets. Van Reenen said this would depend on how well, and how quickly, the government and industry players worked together to create opportunities on the global stage for South African beef to shine and carve out its own market.
“We need government players to mobilise and open new markets for the South African beef industry. This can only be achieved if political intentions are set aside to create economic opportunities that will, at the end of the day, benefit every farmer in the country, that is, both subsistence and commercial farmers,” said Van Reenen.
He said South Africa had already shown its mettle in creating opportunities for the local beef industry, referring to a number of trade agreements that were signed in recent years allowing South Africa to export its beef to markets such as Mauritius, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. He said these were good examples of what could happen when the public and private sector partnered.
“The fact that we can export creates economic opportunities for all players in the beef supply chain, including our competitors. If there is less of our product in the local market, it creates more demand for others. Exporting also allows farmers and other players to fetch better prices, because there is more demand. At the end of the day, the more opportunities we have to export quality beef products creates an industry advantage. But everyone in the value chain has to play their part to ensure that we continue to deliver quality beef both locally and globally,” he said.
According to the Beef Market Value Profile of 2019 by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the beef industry was the second-fastest growing commodity in the agricultural sector after the broiler sector, driven by income growth, technological support and structural change.
The gross value of beef production increased from R13.6 billion in 2008/9 to R37bn in 2017/18. This represented a 173 percent increase during the period, due to the increased consumption of beef during the past decade. The average gross value of beef produced during the period was R23.5bn a year.