From the latest available statistics, 38% comes from Australia, 36% from Uruguay and 7% from Ireland. A large proportion came from Brazil until fears about mad cow disease put a stop to that. Following a 54% increase over the decade ending 2010, production still falls short of consumption, at 17,29kg per capita. Since 2002, beef exports have fallen short of imports, the widest gap being 17,000t in 2005. Most exports go to Mozambique while sales to West Africa (Nigeria and Ghana) are gaining ground rapidly.
With the lush grasslands of Mpumalanga (22% of production), Free State (19%), Gauteng (13%), NW (12%) and KZN (11%), SA should not have a shortfall in production and should not be importing so much beef. Why is it doing so?
