November 21, 2007

South Africa halts meat, poultry exports to EU

South Africa temporarily suspended the export of inactive commodities such as pork and chicken to EU, according to the Department of Agriculture, Tuesday.

Director General Masiphula Mbongwa and EU Director General of Health and Consumer Protection Robert Medalin agreed on recommendations made earlier to halt the specific exports.

According to the department, South Africa will instead concentrate on building the resource base for later export.

South Africa can apply to re-activate the export of those commodities when the stock levels are sufficient enough for trade.

South Africa and EU also discussed bio-security and disaster management issues.

Mbongwa said that the discussions were fruitful and held promising prospects for a healthy trade with EU.

In 2004 and 2006, EU banned poultry products from South Africa due to bird flu outbreaks in areas such as the Eastern and Western Cape, Mossel Bay and Riversdale.

However, the ban was lifted in November 2006, when the EU informed South Africa it accepted its status as free from Highly Pathogenic Notifiable Avian Influenza (HPNAI).