Great news for South Africa’s beef industry

One positive bit of news I noticed this week is about South Africa's beef industry, with an encouraging headline stating, "Saudi Arabia to start South African meat imports asban ends". This means everything is now in order for Saudi Arabia to import beef from South Africa. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has not featured prominently in South Africa's beef export markets in the past, with only small volumes last exported in the early 2000s. The renewed access to this market is critical to South Africa's ambition to expand beef exports, as the Saudi beef market is sizable at over US$647 million in 2021, according to data from Trade Map. About 62% of the Saudi beef imports were frozen beef, while 38% were chilled or fresh beef imports. Some leading suppliers to Saudi Arabia include Brazil, Australia, Pakistan, The US, New Zealand, and Canada. Beyond beef, the Saudi meat market is large, with all meat imports valued, on average, at US$1,9 billion annually over the past five ...