Exporting Pork To Bring Home The Bacon For SA

South Africa’s pork industry is particularly interested in exporting to Asia’s fast-growing markets. However, it will need to target countries that accept our present regulatory systems, according to Ezra Steenkamp, research manager and economist at DAFF’s Directorate International Trade. Gerhard Uys reports.

- Gerhard Uys

High standards of traceability and animal health, as well as food safety regulatory concerns, are currently the main constraints in meat export expansion. To meet this need, South Africa is in the process of establishing a series of compartmentalized systems across the country, but this practice is not fully accepted in all overseas markets.

“[The technique] comprises closed systems where the necessary veterinary and food safety risks are at acceptable levels, even if the country has a disease outbreak,” explains Ezra Steenkamp, research manager and economist at the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ (DAFF) Directorate International Trade.

AN EASIER WAY IN

As a result, the export sector aims to initially obtain protocols for markets easier to access than the EU and US. For the pork industry, this primarily means targeting the traditional pork-consuming countries of Asia. Securing only a few such markets through acceptance of South Africa’s compartment system could provide a base for expansion.