Drought fuels cattle marketing spike
An overall increase of 4.78% was recorded in total marketed cattle last year in comparison to 2018, while live exports declined with nearly 10%.
Marketed cattle increased from 441 559 in 2018 to 462 646 last year.
This was mainly due to increased slaughtering at export abattoirs due to drought conditions forcing farmers to bring their herds to manageable levels.
This driving factor was supported by better carcass prices at export abattoirs.
This is according to statistics provided by the Meat Board of Namibia. Due to prevailing drought conditions, coupled with better producer prices, slaughtering at export abattoirs increased substantially by 71.26%.
“This induced an overall improvement of 4.78% in total marketing, even in the face of poor performance of B and C class abattoirs and live exports that recorded declines of 7.66% and 9.19% respectively,” the Meat Board said.
Of the total cattle marketed, 63% were live exports and 28% were taken up by export abattoirs, while B and C class abattoirs only enjoyed 9% of the market share.
Compared to 2018, live exports lost 9% market share to export abattoirs, whereas butchers also lost footing in the marketing of cattle by 2% to export abattoirs.
According to the Meat Board, although weighted average capacity utilisation of export abattoirs for 2019 stood at 87.34%, it is worth noting that Meatco alone registered a 91.84% monthly capacity utilisation during the year.
“Due to the foot-and-mouth disease phenomenon in the major trading partner, South Africa, live exports declined during 2019.”
A total of 8 564 cattle were declared to the Meat Board by the registered B and C class abattoirs during the fourth quarter of 2019, bringing the total slaughtering by B and C class abattoirs for the entire year to 43 331 cattle.
This compares to 46 924 cattle slaughtered during 2018.
The board also said the long-term sheep marketing trend continues to depict a gradual reduction and that the sector performed poorer during 2019, compared to 2018.
A total of 740 481 sheep were marketed in 2019, compared to 820 786 during 2018.
“Declining by 19.18% during 2019, export abattoirs recorded weak activity, slaughtering 154 398 sheep compared to 191 029 sheep in 2018,” said the Meat Board.
“Whereas live exports remained relatively stable between 2018 and 2019, A, B and C class abattoirs performed poorly.”
On the other hand, butchers also experienced decreased slaughtering, registering a decrease of 25.49% from 174 247 sheep in 2018 to 129 828 in 2019.
Live exports remained stable, recording a marginal increase of 0.16%.
“The observed decreases, an unexpected occurrence in a drought year, are indicative of a declining sheep stock,” said the Meat Board.
It added that the short-term suspension of the small stock scheme was affected to allow the industry and policymakers to contemplate strategies on not only the retention of sheep for slaughtering and value-addition locally, but also the reversal of the downward sheep production trend.
ELLANIE SMIT
Marketed cattle increased from 441 559 in 2018 to 462 646 last year.
This was mainly due to increased slaughtering at export abattoirs due to drought conditions forcing farmers to bring their herds to manageable levels.
This driving factor was supported by better carcass prices at export abattoirs.
This is according to statistics provided by the Meat Board of Namibia. Due to prevailing drought conditions, coupled with better producer prices, slaughtering at export abattoirs increased substantially by 71.26%.
“This induced an overall improvement of 4.78% in total marketing, even in the face of poor performance of B and C class abattoirs and live exports that recorded declines of 7.66% and 9.19% respectively,” the Meat Board said.
Of the total cattle marketed, 63% were live exports and 28% were taken up by export abattoirs, while B and C class abattoirs only enjoyed 9% of the market share.
Compared to 2018, live exports lost 9% market share to export abattoirs, whereas butchers also lost footing in the marketing of cattle by 2% to export abattoirs.
According to the Meat Board, although weighted average capacity utilisation of export abattoirs for 2019 stood at 87.34%, it is worth noting that Meatco alone registered a 91.84% monthly capacity utilisation during the year.
“Due to the foot-and-mouth disease phenomenon in the major trading partner, South Africa, live exports declined during 2019.”
A total of 8 564 cattle were declared to the Meat Board by the registered B and C class abattoirs during the fourth quarter of 2019, bringing the total slaughtering by B and C class abattoirs for the entire year to 43 331 cattle.
This compares to 46 924 cattle slaughtered during 2018.
The board also said the long-term sheep marketing trend continues to depict a gradual reduction and that the sector performed poorer during 2019, compared to 2018.
A total of 740 481 sheep were marketed in 2019, compared to 820 786 during 2018.
“Declining by 19.18% during 2019, export abattoirs recorded weak activity, slaughtering 154 398 sheep compared to 191 029 sheep in 2018,” said the Meat Board.
“Whereas live exports remained relatively stable between 2018 and 2019, A, B and C class abattoirs performed poorly.”
On the other hand, butchers also experienced decreased slaughtering, registering a decrease of 25.49% from 174 247 sheep in 2018 to 129 828 in 2019.
Live exports remained stable, recording a marginal increase of 0.16%.
“The observed decreases, an unexpected occurrence in a drought year, are indicative of a declining sheep stock,” said the Meat Board.
It added that the short-term suspension of the small stock scheme was affected to allow the industry and policymakers to contemplate strategies on not only the retention of sheep for slaughtering and value-addition locally, but also the reversal of the downward sheep production trend.
ELLANIE SMIT
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