Due to the recent outbreaks of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in the Northwest Province, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, the People’s Republic of China, as of April 1, announced a ban on the import of all cloven-hoofed animals and their products from South Africa to China.
Cape Wools SA in a press statement said this has a massive impact on many industries in South Africa, which export large volumes of the above type of product to China. Not least of which is the wool industry which, of the 45 million kilograms produced each year, exports approximately 80% of this annual wool clip, in the form of greasy wool, to China.
The South African wool clip generates some R6 billion of export revenue per year.
The importance of the South African wool industry cannot be overemphasized, as it supports around 40 000 communal and 8 000 commercial farmers, their families, and their dependents, as well as the farm workers employed within the industry.
Exports could resume only once several new measures were implemented, as required by China.
These measures included registration of facilities to export to China and inactivation of the FMD virus as detailed by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
The fact that these measures are still strictly enforced, the announcement of a blanket ban of cloven-hoofed derived products from South Africa, which includes wool, comes as a surprise.
The wool industry is currently engaged with both national and international stakeholders to impress on them the fact that wool already complies with export requirements in terms of freedom from the foot and mouth disease virus and should be excluded from this ban.
Wool auctions have been postponed in the interim, until more clarity can be obtained from the Chinese authorities on the duration and exact nature of the ban introduced in their announcement of 1 April.
