21 Aug 2016

Botswana Meat Commission plant manager in Maun, Mr Oabona Ramotshwara says once all the logistics with Mozambique are complete, they will start exporting meat to Vietnam.

In an interview, he said arrangement to export meat to Vietnam was suspended for three weeks following the recent wars experienced in Mozambique.

He said last week, Mozambique officials started the transit permit process as they had promised to escort vehicles to safe areas.

He said a company called Bollore in Mozambique has been engaged to do all the necessary logistics and once done, “we will start transporting our product.”

Mr Ramotshwara noted that Vietnam’s four orders were in the system waiting to be transported. He however noted that access to other alternative markets still remained a challenge.

The abattoir has been exporting beef to Democratic Republic of Congo but the plant manager observed that their trade with DRC is on and off stating that the foreign office was dealing with the matter.

He said being a red zone disadvantages them to access the port hence they were left with only one route via Mozambique.

The abattoir could not use the Namibian port to reach Angola which the abattoir is eyeing because of fears of contracting Foot and Mouth Disease to the area.

Mr Ramotshwara noted that Mozambique was willing to accept meat from them if it is packaged into containers adding that efforts were being made to explore the Zambian route. He said currently Mozambique is buying meat from South Africa and Swaziland.

He also pointed out that they do not want to over commit themselves because of capacity noting that if they could secure  four to five companies outside, that would be enough to supply.

He said going forward, they intend to produce two containers weekly for export. 

The Maun abattoir has the capacity to slaughter 120 cattle per day. 

The manager said getting cattle for slaughter was not a problem as the district had more that they could handle.

Mr Ramotshwara said it was a positive thing for the district to have not experienced any Foot and Mouth Disease for 12 months noting that soon they would be shipping containers.

Asked about competition with other countries such as Brazil, he said they compete at the same level because they were not from green zone and that their product is cheap.

“In terms of grading we are the same and we use free range system hence we have a competitive edge. For a long time we have been always known for quality meat and traceability system,” he added.

Regarding the issue of collaborating with local private abattoirs, Mr Ramotshwara said they were open to working with them adding that working as a team would also eliminate fear in the market especially for export market.

He also appreciated that since there were more players coming in, the chances of monopoly would come to an end at some stage. 

It has been reported that a new abattoir is being constructed at Sehithwa while the Ngamiland abattoir is operating.

He also explained that local individuals were also free to buy from the abattoir and export once they had a permit with the exporting country. Ends