Sudan ready to resume meat exports to Saudi Arabia

May 24, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese ministry of animal resources and fisheries has expressed its readiness to resume exports of meat to Saudi Arabia, announcing that veterinary quarantines in the various states are ready for export operations of sheep and live cattle.

Last month, the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) decided to lift a temporary ban on imports of Beef, lamb, goat and chilled meat products from Sudan.

The decision was based on the reports of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) which stated that Sudan is free of the Rift Valley fever and Rinderpest, as well as on the recommendation of the OIE technical team that visited Sudan recently.

The head of the Veterinary Quarantines General Directorate, Youssef Mohamed Abdallah, said that Sudan havs exported 1,500 tonnes of meat to Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, and Kuwait.

He said that more than 2 million heads of cattle had been exported, pointing that the majority of it was exported to Saudi Arabia.

Abdallah projected an increase in chilled meat exports to Saudi Arabia in the coming few days.

He stressed that veterinary quarantines in the various states are ready for the export operations, noting those quarantines are constantly evolving in order to keep pace with the developments in slaughter and exports operations.

He further noted that exports operations of live cattle and meat did not face any problems in the previous period.

The Saudi market ranked first in the exports of the Sudanese livestock which is estimated at 4 million heads of cattle.

But export operations faced significant difficulties in the recent years due to repeated quarantines, as well as the increase in the production cost of Sudanese meat which weakened its competitiveness in the Saudi and Gulf markets.

Sudan’s wealth of livestock is estimated at 140 million heads of cattle.

(ST)