Beijing is slamming a ban on imports of cattle, sheep, goat, poultry and even-toed ungulates from Tanzania and a few other African countries.
As it happens, China is prohibiting all livestock products from a number of African, Asian and European countries due to what is being described as outbreaks of animal illnesses such as sheep pox, goat pox and foot-and-mouth-disease.
The ban, which also includes processed and unprocessed products, comes after the World Organisation for Animal Health released information of disease outbreaks in various countries.
According to a series of recent announcements by China’s General Administration of Customs, Beijing is taking these drastic steps, effective from February 2025, to avert infections spreading to the Far East country.
Tanzania is among the countries being affected by the ban by China, which is essentially the world’s largest meat importer.
The average value of Tanzania’s Exports of meat, fish and seafood preparations to China stands at USD 47,000 per annum, according to the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics database on international trade.
Tanzania, on the other hand, is the second top beef producer on the continent, after South Africa.
Other countries that will no longer export meat and dairy products to China include Ghana, Somalia, Qatar, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Egypt, Bulgaria, East Timor and Eritrea.
For some reason, Kenya and Uganda, that directly border Tanzania and sometimes even share grazing pastures, have been exempted from the latest Chinese ban.
China also said it has stopped imports of sheep, goat and related products from the occupied Palestinian territories as well as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal and Bangladesh due to sheep pox and goat pox outbreaks.
Beijing is also blocking the imports of even-toed ungulates and related products from Germany following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, it said.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) the Top 10 beef producers in Africa are South Africa (15.76 percent), Tanzania (7.31 percent), Kenya (7.05 percent), Chad (6.97 percent) and Ethiopia (5.97 percent).
Topping the list there is also Sudan (5.92%), Egypt (5.82%), Nigeria (5.03%), Morocco (4.32%), and South Sudan (3.53%).
These happen to be the 10 countries that account for 67.7 percent of Africa’s beef production.
There is, however, no correlation between the size of the cattle and beef exports.
Ethiopia, which has the largest cattle herds in Africa, is the fifth biggest beef producer in Africa.
Its meat output, however, is only 38 percent of that of South Africa, which tops the list.