Event to Showcase Return of U.S. Beef and Pork to South Africa

U.S. red meat exporters will meet and network with importers from South Africa this week during the U.S. Meat Export Federation’s (USMEF) first South Africa Seminar and Buyers Reception, scheduled for Aug. 18 in Johannesburg. Dan Halstrom, USMEF senior vice president for marketing says this showcasing of U.S. beef and pork to South African customers comes at an opportune time, as earlier this year South Africa reopened to U.S. beef for the first time since 2003 and lifted some restrictions on U.S. pork.

The USMEF event, which is funded through support from the Pork Checkoff, the Beef Checkoff Program and the USDA Market Access Program, will offer an opportunity for U.S. exporters to build relationships with South African buyers and help reacquaint them with high-quality U.S. pork and beef. The interest level among buyers in the region is very high, according to Halstrom, who notes that USMEF will also lead a tour of the Johannesburg area the day before the showcase to explore the city’s modern retail and traditional wholesale markets.


TRANSCRIPT:

Ralph Loos: Recognizing exciting new opportunities for U.S. red meat, the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) is in Johannesburg, South Africa this week to conduct a seminar and showcase. In this USMEF report, Senior Vice President for Marketing Dan Halstrom explains the planned activities.

Dan Halstrom: We have arranged a buyers seminar and showcase for the 18th of August, so we’re just getting ready to get that kicked off. And it’s exciting because we’re regained access for beef and pork into South Africa. It represents a new opportunity for the industry. The first part of that opportunity is to go in and not only relationship build but provide some education for these buyers to kind of reacquaint them with high quality U.S. beef and pork. Of course the real key to the event is the interaction between the exporters we have going down and the buyers who will be at the event. We have extremely good interest out of the region, especially in South Africa. We have a few customers coming from Nigeria and Congo, as well. So I think, in general, the interest level is very, very high.

Ralph Loos: While in South Africa, USMEF will give exporters a broad look at the promising market.

Dan Halstrom: We’re actually providing a retail tour – a combination of modern retail as we know it here in the U.S. and also the more traditional wet market/wholesale market retail, as well. So we should get a pretty good cross-section of the diversity. Like and developing region, the majority of the consumption lies in the traditional market, but the pace of growth – especially in the more developed economy like South Africa – where we can get higher value for our product is quite substantial. So that makes South Africa pretty exciting.

Ralph Loos: For more information, please visit USMEF.org. For the U.S. Meat Export Federation, I’m Ralph Loos.