Foot-and-Mouth Disease Shuts Botswana Out of the EU Beef Market
Botswana's only EU-listed abattoir sits inside an outbreak zone. Brussels removed the last authorised zones in April, though other markets have reopened. The post Foot-and-Mouth Disease Shuts Botswana Out of the EU Beef Market appeared first on The Rio Times .
Botswana has been barred from exporting beef to the European Union due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease at its only abattoir approved for European trade. This single slaughterhouse, located in the Botswana Meat Commission works at Lobatse, sits inside an affected zone, making it impossible for the country to sell fresh beef into the EU market.
The European Union requires each country to be in a specific disease-control zone before allowing beef exports, and Botswana lost its disease-free status for ten control zones as of 31 March 2026. The outbreak at Ramatlabama, which sits in zone 11, sealed the deal, and no instrument has been published since to reopen the market.
While Botswana has experienced a decline in exports, with meat and meat-product exports valued at 404 million pula (US$30.7 million) in 2024, the industry remains significant, constituting about 1.4% of the country's exports.
Written by urgent.news from The Rio Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
