South Africa: The Rate of South African Equine Exports Is Plummeting and Jobs in the Industry Are Haemorrhaging

Published Dec 8, 2020

Tridge summary

South Africa's horse export industry continues to face restrictions from the European Union (EU) following a 2011 outbreak of African Horse Sickness. This outbreak triggered a two-year export ban, with additional bans imposed each time the disease reappears. Despite the country being disease-free for some time and having an upcoming audit in April, the process has been delayed due to the Covid-19 lockdown and other trade issues. As a result, horses cannot be exported directly to the EU, and South Africa has been forced to route exports through other countries since 2018.

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

Original content

South Africa can't export horses directly to the European Union, thanks to a leftover from an outbreak of African Horse Sickness in 2011. The World Health Organisation set up protocols on moving animals around the world and we have been stuck in limbo ever since. Whenever there's an outbreak, a two-year ban starts again, and there have been a few outbreaks since then. When the ban is up, a country can apply for an audit, which can take up to nine months. Although South Africa has been disease-free for some time now and an audit was scheduled in April to free up exports from the local industry, the Covid-19 lockdown threw a spanner in the works and it has been postponed indefinitely. Coronavirus aside, the delay is mostly due to other "trade irritants", as Peter Fabricius referred to in his report on the first ...

Source: All Africa