WINDHOEK: The Namibian government has made a bizarre decision which will cripple its lucrative export industry to the EU for fresh produce and meat -- seemingly for no gain, political or economic. New tariffs will AVERAGE 90% on all exports. Clever Namibians are buying shares in haulage companies, gas stations along the TransCaprivi and TransKalahari Highways. Meat-eating Namibians are wondering what this means for the local price of meat which has for a long time been subsidised by lucrative exports to the EU. Plus, the value of land is intimately linked to these high returns from exports - and cattle rangeland supports cattle and wildlife complementarily. The tourism industry, based around sustainable tourism [and community-based natural resource management, is equally watching these emerging events with a sense of loss and impending problems.
SHOCKWAVES have rippled through the private sector since Government announced on Wednesday that it refused to sign a new trade deal to kick in on January 1 2008.
The signature would have safeguarded duty- and quotafree access of all Namibian agricultural produce, such as beef, grapes and fish, to the European Union (EU).
"Namibia is facing very stiff tariffs for beef imports to the EU, averaging 90 per cent, three weeks from now against the present eight per cent," said Juergen Hoffmann, Special Trade Advisor at the Agricultural Trade Forum (ATF).
"This is because the European Union does not grant GSP to any meat products," he said yesterday.
The Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) is a scheme whereby a wide range of industrial and agricultural products from some developing countries are given preferential access to EU markets.
An insider of the beef industry told The Namibian yesterday the steep increase in tariffs from next January would make it uneconomic to export beef to the EU.
Currently Namibia exports some 9 000 tonnes of beef a year to the EU.
"It is deboned meat and only the best pieces, being the prime cuts, are exported," said the person, who spoke on condition off anonymity.
"I would not be surprised at all if some abattoirs shut down in Namibia and jobs will be lost.
I also wonder if the Etunda feedlot, which is to be set up by Meatco near Ruacana with EU grant money, will actually come off."
Trade and Industry Minister Immanuel Ngatjizeko told reporters on Wednesday that Government would set up a special task team to assess the losses the beef, fish and grape producers will suffer.
"We can meet them only halfway," the Minister stated. The grape industry is also affected by the Government decision. It employs about 1 500 people permanently and 6 000 seasonal workers in southern Namibia. Namibia exports about 22 500 tonnes of table grapes, most of them to the EU.
The higher import tariffs of EU countries will amount to over N$300 million, which producers have to cough up next year to sell their grapes in Europe
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