Year-to-date cattle marketing declines
The total marketing of cattle declined by 12.39% with a total of 170,838 cattle marketed year-to-date, the Meat Board of Namibia reports.
Reviewing the performance of the cattle production sector in the third quarter of 2021, the Meat Board said from the total cattle marketed year-to-date, 59% were live exports, 26% were taken up by export abattoirs while B&C class abattoirs enjoyed 15% of the market share.
Compared to 2020, export abattoirs gained 5% market share from B&C class abattoirs and live exports and butchers which lost 4% and 1% market share, respectively.
Up to 97 % of all live cattle exported on the hoof were marketed to South Africa (98 709 heads out of 101 367 heads) whereas Angola took up 2.41% (2440 heads) of total live exports which mainly consisted of weaners.
The third quarter, however, performed better with a total of 69,811 cattle marketed, an increase of 2.3% from 68 239 cattle during the same quarter in 2020.
“The number of marketable cattle dropped as producers continued restocking herds. The increase in marketing was driven by an increase in slaughtering by export-approved abattoirs,” the Meat Board said.
During the third quarter of 2021, export abattoirs performed well, slaughtering 19 035 cattle in comparison to 9 365 cattle slaughtered in the same quarter of 2020. Export approved abattoirs slaughtered leveraged on feedlots and cattle imports from Botswana following that country’s temporary lift on the ban of cattle exports.
Meanwhile, despite the decline in Namibian weaner prices from month to month, they were still higher in 2021 by 18,68% compared to 2020.
According to the Meat Board, on average the Namibian weaner traded at N$39.46 per kg during the first nine months of 2021, N$6.21 per kg higher than 2020. On the other hand, the Namibian B2 beef carcass price averaged N$56.03 per kg during the third quarter, the highest quarterly performance in 2021 and a 26,56% increase from the quarterly level of N$44.27 per kg observed in quarter 3 of 2020.
“This greatly served as a pull factor to throughput at export approved abattoirs,” the Meat Board stated.
