Zimbabwe's commercial beef sector suffers a massive decline

Press reports indicate that the governments land reform programme has led to a virtual collapse of the commercial beef sector. Zimbabwe used to earn around US$50 million per annum from commercial beef exports, with 80% of this meat coming from the commercial beef sector. However the commercial herd has now shrunk by some 60% in recent years to less than half a million head of cattle. Not only have export markets in Europe been lost but there is now a shortage of beef on local markets. Commentators suggest a recovery in commercial beef production could take up to ten years. Comment: Whether the Zimbabwean beef industry will ever export to the EU again is an open question. The recent granting of duty-free access to ACP least-developed country beef exports under the 'everything but arms' initiative has not led to any new exports, since SPS standards for beef now constitute a significant barrier to trade. Many of the arrangements for SPS compliance in Zimbabwe will need to be rebuilt from scratch, and the investment costs that this entails could make exports to the EU unprofitable in the light of the declining prices in EU beef markets since 1999.

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
Format:	News Item biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation 2003
Online Access:	https://hdl.handle.net/10568/52778 http://agritrade.cta.int/Back-issues/Agriculture-monthly-news-update/2003/May-2003
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