Satisfying the preferences of South Africa’s international red meat markets

“Many South African red meat producers are keen to benefit from exporting some or all of their products to more profitable international markets. To do so, however, these farmers have to identify, and then consistently meet, a variety of requirements.

For a start, a red meat exporter needs to know and understand the current state of South Africa’s red meat trade in fresh and frozen products, half and whole carcasses, and bone-in and deboned cuts.

South Africa is a substantial net importer of mutton and lamb. Nonetheless, there is still an opportunity to increase its exports of sheep meat, as well as live sheep. Kuwaiti company Al Mawashi has already bought and successfully exported around 170 000 live sheep from South Africa since late last year.

South Africa is a net exporter of beef, but also imports relatively large volumes of this meat. This means that there is effectively a national oversupply