December 4, 2007

Unsigned agreement with EU may imperil Namibia's beef exports

Namibia, like South Africa, will most probably miss the December 31 deadline to conclude an interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU).

According to Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) president Raimer van Hase, the country's beef sector will receive a significant blow if the two countries are unable to reach an interim EPA. He said that "import tariff for Namibian meat to the EU will rise from 8.3 percent to between 68 percent and 142 percent, making it too expensive and thus uncompetitive".

Namibia stands to lose around N$370 million (US$54 million) in export revenue should the new beef tariff structure became operational.

Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique, forming the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) regional bloc, have signed an interim EPA with the EU late last week.

The countries have finalised interim measures and further trade details to comply with the full EPA. The interim measures will continue to grant Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique duty- and quota-free access to the EU.