Sweden eyes local meat

Sweden is considering Namibia as a potential exporter of mutton, in addition to beef.
This came to light at a meeting held between the Swedish trade council, the Swedish company, Afram Impex and the Meat Board of Namibia in Windhoek.
Together with Afram Impex, the Swedish trade council delegation, led by Robin Ekström visited Namibia this week to explore business opportunities after having expressed interest in Namibian beef.
According to Willem Schutz, manager of information systems at the Meat board of Namibia, “after the deliberations, goat and lamb was included, and they [Swedish delegation] will in future also investigate the potential of these two species.”
The Swedish trade council also met with Meatco and Witvlei to discuss prospective areas of trade.
According to Schultz, during the consultative meeting, the Meat Board provided the Swedish delegation with background information, after which they visited Witvlei Meat and Meatco.
Even though Namibia is keen on strengthening trade relations and increasing marketing opportunities to lucrative markets, “the main obstacle presently seems to be the shortage of volumes to serve all our markets as we have limited volumes,” Schultz said.
But “we explained to them the different strategies Namibia is busy with, to increase our volumes which amongst others include, de-bushing and upgrading of animal health status of the Namibia Communal Association as well as application and motivation to export bone in meat to the European Union amongst others,” he added.
In the meantime, the Meat Board will also meet with a Norwegian delegation led by Gunnar Dalen from Nortura on 16 March, while they await confirmation from Iran following a pending proposal to visit.
The Norwegians and their Namibian counter parts will focus on existing markets, looking at the 2011 production year as well as outlook for 2012. The issue of increased quota to Norway will also be discussed.
The visits comes after international players recognised a need for environmental-friendly and naturally produced meat, which Namibia offers.