What do the numbers say about the meat imports from Namibia?

Published 2024년 6월 5일

Tridge summary

Sheep farmers in the Northern Cape of South Africa are facing challenges with the profitability of livestock farming due to high input costs and low meat prices, which have led to concerns about sustainability and potential farm closures. The import of red meat from Namibia and Botswana has exacerbated the problem, leading to overcrowding in local abattoirs and further driving down meat prices. Critical issues include the quality of meat, marketing of lamb and mutton, and the outdated classification system, which fails to reflect the quality of the meat at the point of sale. This situation threatens the viability of local producers, leading to economic and social impacts in rural towns, and raising concerns about the future of red meat production in the region.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

When a sheep farmer in the Northern Cape says that livestock farming, especially sheep farming, can no longer be profitable, it makes one sit up. His statement may be based on the reality of input costs on the one hand and the price sheep farmers have to settle for on the other. If this is so, then the sums do not add up at all and it will not take long before many sheep farmers will have to leave the bus. This is a shocking statement, but it has already been expressed by a few sheep producers. If you talk to a few of them, you will soon find out that they are unhappy about the prices that climbed from R65/kg to R95/kg from 2019 to 2022, but then fell back to R85/kg. It is also the case that input costs are not going to drop and although all kinds of plans are being made to farm more scientifically and develop markets, no one seems to have advice for these practical problems. One such problem situation that producers have hot under the collar is the import of red meat from ...

Source: Agriorbit