By Wezi Tjaronda
WINDHOEK
Officials from the meat industry will this week travel to six Asian countries in search of new markets for Namibian meat.
The two-week trip has been organised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, which has requested the industry to diversify the markets for the county’s renowned meat.
Namibia Meat Board Managing Director, Paul Strydom, told New Era yesterday the trip would take the officials, including representatives of exporters of meat products, Meat Board and the Ministry to China, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
He said during the trip, the delegation would look at the suitability or the feeling of the market, regarding how they trade, their major retailers, hotel chains, while importers will also be investigated.
The delegation will also look at the logistics, import tariffs and duties, trade agreements and type of meat cuts.
Strydom said the profitability of the market would also be investigated. This is the first time Namibians are travelling to Asia in search for other markets for its meat products.
At present, Namibia exports its meat to Europe and South Africa.
Namibia’s total annual production of beef amounts to some hundreds of thousands of tonnes, of which approximately 80 percent is exported. For the markets of Europe and South Africa, cuts are either vacuum-packed and chilled or frozen. The exporters at present are Meatco and Witvlei Abattoir.