JEDDAH, 13 February — Sudanese exporters were eagerly awaiting the outcome of a visit to Khartoum by a Saudi team from the ministries of agriculture and health on the fate of a six-month-old ban on Sudanese livestock exports to the Kingdom.
The ban was imposed last September following the outbreak of the Rift Valley Fever in southern parts of the Kingdom as well as the neighboring countries of Yemen, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea in addition to Dahak Islands in the Red Sea. The disease has so far killed more than 100 people.
The chairman of the Sudanese Chamber of Livestock Exporters, Siddiq Haydoub, said they held positive discussions with the Saudi delegation over the past two days and were now awaiting the result of a report the team had submitted to Saudi officials. He reiterated earlier statements that Sudan was free of any signs of the disease.
"We held positive discussions with the Saudi side who informed us that they will submit a report on the meetings to the authorities in the Kingdom. We hope to receive encouraging news from them to be able to resume exports," Haydoub told Arab News from Khartoum.
Last year, Sudan exported one million heads of sheep to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. Exports to other countries in the region were resumed following visits by senior Sudanese officials and exporters.
Traders in Jeddah said they expected the price of sheep to double over the coming days ahead of Eid Al-Adha (feast of the sacrifice) and Haj when Muslims slaughter millions of sheep, cattle and camels.
Locally-grown sheep currently sell at an average of SR500, some of them fetching as high as SR800. Sudanese sheep which last year sold at SR400 a head are expected to cost SR800 and even more as a result of the import ban, traders said.
This year pilgrims coming for Haj will have to pay more to buy sacrificial animals due to the ban. The Islamic Development Bank which implements with the Saudi government a sacrificial meat utilization project said it secured 560,000 heads of sheep from other sources to meet the demand.
Sudan has hoped to increase its animal exports to $200 million by the end of last year but the ban had a devastating effect on local exporters in a country where hard currency earnings from livestock come second to oil exports. Haydoub said they were optimistic the situation would improve since the county is free of RVF. The ban has already offset Sudan's plans to boost exports during the fasting month of Ramadan when meat consumption is usually high.
