22 April 2008
Windhoek — NAMIBIA'S privately owned meat production company Meatco is exploring new exports markets for beef in Switzerland and the Eastern Emirate.
After the first pallet of meat was shipped to Dubai in the Eastern Emirate at the end of last year, a second consignment followed this month.
One carton each of rib eye, fillet, strip loin and rump were distributed in Dubai via an agent in December 2007.
"The feedback Meatco received on its product was very positive and the corporation was recently requested to send six more cartons of each of these meats to further test the market," Meatco said in a statement last week.
The price currently fetched for Meatco's products in Dubai is better than in South Africa, but it is not competitive with prices in the European Union (EU).
A requirement in Dubai is that meat must be sold within 90 days of slaughter, in contrast with the six-months shelf life that Meatco guarantees for its meat.
Halaal - slaughtering according to Muslim religious rules - is also strictly enforced in the United Arab Emirates of which Dubai forms part.
Another market that has picked up considerably since the end of last year is Switzerland, which is not a member of the EU.
Meatco had sent meat consignments to Switzerland for a while, but that market has grown from supplying one airfreight container of meat every month to supplying three airfreight containers per week since February this year, the company stated.
Meat exports from Namibia to the EU almost came to an end last December, when the Namibian Government at first refused to initial an interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe due to some concerns and then signed at the last minute.
The proper EPA must still be negotiated before the end of this year.
Namibia must however open its markets to EU goods by July and at the same time slash 80 per cent of the import tariffs on those goods.
Namibia exports about 9 000 tonnes of deboned meat to the EU a year.
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