NAMIBIA –  The Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) has corroborated data given by the country’s Meat Board Statistics showing that the production of pork in the country has been stable in recent months.

According to NAU’s latest report, local pork production in Namibia covers between 45% and 50% of consumption with the deficit covered by imports from Europe, with Germany and Spain being the main exporters.

The union stated that pork prices have however not been stable in the previous years due to the challenges of increasing costs of stock feed that influenced the number of animals slaughtered in the years.

“However, a total of 14 961 pigs were slaughtered in Namibia between January and April 2022 compared to 14 752 during the same period in 2023 indicating a decline,” NAU reported.

In 2020, NAU urged the country to consider investing more in the pork sector to realize its full potential, especially to export to China where demand is strong.

China’s strong demand for pork imports supported exporting economies and drove the global pork markets causing global pork prices to grow from mid-year in 2019 to the beginning of 2020.

In a statement from the union’s newsletter, Red Meat Abattoir Association (RMAA) prices and Namibian pork ceiling prices had an upward trend between 2016 and 2017, however, global challenges caused prices to drastically drop.

Namibia’s pork ceiling price was as high as N$42,42/kg in December 2017, but decreased to N$29,38/kg in May 2018, showing a decline of about 30,74% in five months, the statement continued.

Currently, the union highlighted that in the context of the marketing dynamics in the months preceding April to June of 2022, the average pork ceiling price was N$34,48/kg.

The pork demand has meanwhile increased in Namibia since the import ban from South Africa due to the foot-and-mouth disease in August 2022, as it created a bigger-than-normal shortage of pork in the country.

“This had led to importers bringing in huge amounts of pork at very cheap prices from South Africa, hence the drop in numbers sold locally,” NAU stated.

“These imports were then sold from April to June when the pork price in South Africa increased by R2/kg.”

According to NAU, the current price is capped at N$51,03/kg, but this will only be in place until the import ban is lifted. This situation has, however, saved the pork producers in Namibia from financial ruin.

Production costs in Namibia, a net importer of feed, are very high and if the price drops to the normal ceiling price calculation (currently N$41,50/kg), the sector will certainly not be profitable going forward.

For all the latest food industry news from Africa and the World, subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel.