ALLAN SECCOMBE, Johannesburg
Reuters
SOUTH African
consumers could be hit by meat shortages and price hikes this
festive season after the government banned livestock imports from
Namibia because of a new outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, officials
said.
"It's
a worry for us because that is a big supply source. Abattoirs
and feedlots face a worrying Christmas, which is a time when meat
consumption is usually high," said Boet Venter, chief executive
of South African Meat Industries Company, an industry umbrella
body.
Namibian livestock
farmers also have cause for concern.
Foot-and-mouth
was detected on Monday at a feedlot of more than 64 000 pigs and
cattle valued at some R60m near Middelburg in Mpumalanga. In response,
South Africa banned livestock imports from the 14-nation Southern
African Development Community (SADC), of which Namibia is a member.
Agriculture
Minister Thoko Didiza said the feedlot had purchased livestock
from the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC)
and a probe was under way to screen records of livestock imported
from areas affected by the virus.
South Africa
imports 800 000 to a million sheep and goats and 150 000
weaner calves from Namibia a year to supply abattoirs and feedlots,
Venter said.
"I think
meat prices will go up. There is normally a seasonal peak in December,
but now that there is a constraint on supplies, prices could go
up more," Venter said.
Namibia is
the main supplier of livestock to South Africa and the Namibian
Agricultural Union has said it exports about 80% of its livestock
to South Africa, generating sales of R450m a year.
Venter said
the feed industry was unlikely to be affected by the ban because
sheep and goats were slaughtered almost as soon as they were delivered
and weaner cattle were kept alive for a maximum of 90 days.
Neighbouring
countries like Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia faced a rare chance
to sell South Africa deboned meat, he said.
The virus
found near Middelburg was different to the one that caused South
Africa's first foot-and-mouth outbreak in 44 years in KwaZulu-Natal
in mid-September, resulting in the culling of thousands of animals.
Vaccinations
have started at the Kanhym feedlot where all movement of animals
was halted as soon as the disease was detected, said Lourie Bosman,
president of the Mpumalanga Agricultural Union.
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