President Cyril Ramaphosa accompanied by local meat packer, Beefmaster Group, have explored red meat export opportunities for South Africa in Algeria.  

During the trade call in late 2024, Ramaphosa and the group’s CEO Gert Blignaut promoted their sector’s strengths to potential importers in Algeria.

One of the opportunities is the trailblazing footprint of South Africa’s lamb and beef in the Levant and nearby nations such as Mozambique. 

In 2023, two countries from Africa namely Mozambique and Egypt contributed greatly to South Africa’s global meat exports.

Middle East’s Lead Destination

2024 estimates already reveal that 58% of beef shipments by South Africa end up in the Middle East and Africa.  

Jordan led orders of meat shipments from this African origin in 2023 with 5,406 tonnes while Kuwait followed with 4,797 tonnes.

According to Blignaut, the flourishing of meat exports and fair prices in these destinations is testimony enough of the safety and ascetic quality of various meat types from his country.

Among the major types are lamb, 93% of which ships to the Middle East in mainly the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait. In its part, South African beef draws five of its top ten global markets inside the Middle East.

Algeria, as one of the largest countries in Africa with a population verging on 47 million, is strategically positioned as a meat market.  To date, it has been importing beef and live cattle from nearby Europe and from as far as Brazil and India.  Some 100,000 head of cattle arrive in the North African nation annually from Lower Countries such as Spain and France. 

It is out of such demand projections and proximity to Algeria that South Africa’s red meat proposition gains persuasiveness. And as the data below shows, the biggest economy in Africa has sufficient meat production capacity to meet Algiers’ booming demand.

South Africa Red Meat Statistics 

South Africa is a leading source of red meat, with beef  prominent while sheep, lamb and goat meat abound. According to FAOSTAT, the country produced over 1.032 million tonnes of beef in 2023, up from over 1.008 million tonnes in 2022. Lamb and sheep meat production, on the other hand, reached 140,000 tonnes in 2023, down from 149,000 tonnes in 2022. Most of the beef undergoes shipment to global markets, while almost all lamb exports are destined for the Middle East. 

Is South Africa a major beef exporter? 

As Africa’s largest beef exporter and in 2022, South Africa ranked 26th worldwide with exports worth $154.703 million. This represented 0.3% of global exports. Only Sudan comes near at position 44, with an export value worth $22.259 million, as of 2020. 

How many cattle does South Africa slaughter per year? 

South Africa has been averaging an annual slaughter of beef cattle totalling 2.6 million head between 2018 and 2024. This figure in essence amounts to a six-year annual beef production average of 740,000 tonnes.  

How many sheep does South Africa slaughter per year? 

South Africa slaughters some 4.81 million sheep, as of 2022, which represents about 1/4 of the country’s sheep population while the rest remain in the herd.

How many sheep are there in the country? 

Even if it peaked at 24.5 million head in 2010, the national flock would level off to 21.43 million head in 2022.