SA game exports could surge if EU gives access

Johannesburg - South Africa could boost the value of its exports of game meat more than fivefold from the levels it had before a ban due to a foot and mouth disease outbreak if it wins the right to resume sales to the European Union, an industry group said.

South Africa is negotiating with the EU to resume shipments of game meat after a ban was put in place in 2011 because of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana told reporters.

READ: SA seeks to sell game, beef to EU

Prior to the ban, South Africa exported R200m to R400m of game meat a year, said Peter Oberem, president of the Wildlife Ranching South Africa association.

“We can easily export R2bn of game meat in a year,” Oberem said by mobile phone on January 13.

South African game meat products range from antelope species such as kudu, oryx and impala to zebra and giraffe, according to the Game Abattoirs and Meat Exporters of South Africa association.

The ban on exports of meat including game to the EU cost South Africa about R4bn, Zokwana said. The World Organisation for Animal Health, known as OIE, declared South Africa free of the disease in February last year.

The nation’s livestock industry, including dairy and meat products, is worth R50bn rand annually, according to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Director- General Edith Vries. Exports of products such as beef and mutton are limited by local consumption and South Africa isn’t currently trying to win the right to export beef to the EU.

“The area where the biggest advantage will be is in the game meat industry because that meat can now go out again,” Ernst Janovsky, head of agribusiness at Barclays said by phone. “We used to export quite a lot of game meat.” - Bloomberg