‘Importing animals from Namibia doesn’t harm SA’

Despite many concerns in red meat production circles, the importation of live animals for slaughter from Namibia played a very small role in the South African market. According to Dr Frikkie Maré, CEO of the South Africa’s Red Meat Producers’ Organisation, data gained during the past seven years showed that the imports had very little impact locally.

“These unfounded concerns led to erroneous perceptions and claims. Fact of the matter is that red meat prices historically tend to go down in March. On the other hand, Namibian imports make up a very small portion of the formal South African slaughterings. Statistics show that the imported weaners constitute about 8% of South Africa’s market. The imports from Namibia are too small to cause large price shocks,” he said in a statement.

The sharp price decline experienced in March 2024 in the weaner market also occurred during the same period in the past two years. The trend was that Namibian exports actually increased as soon as local prices started to go up. Lower prices resulted in lower exports from that country. As in the case of beef weaners, sheep imports into South Africa form a relatively small part of the total formal local slaughterings. Statistics show that Namibian sheep made up 8,8% on average between 2017 and 2023.

“Although the Namibian sheep price is about R4/kg lower than the local price, the difference between that country’s price and ours is too small to cause ‘dumping’. The existence of a free trade agreement between the two countries must be kept in mind, and apart from certain exceptions to protect both economies, there are no restrictions on trade. We have a positive trade balance with Namibia; we exported goods and services to the value of R622,77 billion to them compared with imports of R330,6 billion, according to 2022 data,” Maré added.

Roelie Venter, CEO of the Namibia Agricultural Union, previously told Farmer’s Weekly that Namibia was a highly reliable exporter and importer in trade with South Africa. He said while Namibia was a net exporter of cattle, sheep and goats, the country was also a net importer of grains, feeds, sugar and pork, among other products ,from South Africa. The two countries belong to the Southern African Customs Union and are bound by similar reciprocal trade agreements. At the same time, South Africa and Namibia are part of the Common Monetary Area, meaning the Namibian dollar is pegged to the South African rand on a 1:1 basis. –

‘THE IMPORTS ARE TOO SMALL TO CAUSE LARGE PRICE SHOCKS’