Effects of COVID-19 on global markets

17 Apr 2020

All countries realise the need to keep essential industries open and operational.

The processing, manufacture, supply and distribution of food is critical to ensure people’s wellbeing/health and to avoid the threat of social disorder.

The food chain is an essential industry. Countries within Meatco’s key export markets cannot generally feed themselves/produce all that the countries’ consumers wish to eat. Therefore, imports remain crucial to controlling the price of food and ensuring the availability of enough food to underpin social harmony.

According to Meatco Marketing and Sales Executive, Isaac Nathinge, diversification means branching out into other marketplaces. It is considered a safety net against downturns in a single market and a way to constantly grow one’s business.

 

“By providing different products to different markets, Meatco can move products effortlessly between markets while realising better value for the Namibian nation. For example, Meatco manages to mitigate the full impact of the economic downturn simply by diverting products to other markets,” says Nathinge.

Governments in Meatco’s major export markets have indicated that ports of intake and discharge are recognised as essential and the infrastructure required to support them. This has been confirmed with trade associations in the UK and Europe and FSIS in the US. Therefore, our trade routes should stay open and accessible.

Nathinge notes that Meatco’s key export markets Norway, People’s Republic of China, the United States, European Union, United Kingdom and South Africa remain in one form of lockdown or another except China, which recently relaxed its lockdown measures.

The market is extremely volatile and will likely remain so while the lockdowns continue and for a significant period after this. Management and risk mitigation will remain an ongoing process. Policy interventions that will assist agribusinesses like Meatco are necessary to overcome these challenges, says Nathinge.