By George Munene

Talks are ongoing between Nairobi and Cairo for The Kenya Meat Commission to begin export of Kenyan meat products to Egypt.

“There has been ongoing engagement between The Kenya Meat Commission and Egyptian authorities for over two years and we should hopefully see Kenyan meat in the Egyptian market in the next six months, said Joff Otieno,” Kenyan Ambassador to Egypt.

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Egypt imports meat from Australia and Brazil with the average distance between the two nations and Egypt being 11,000 kilometres. This inflates the eventual price of the products which trickles down to the consumer with a kilogram of beef in Egypt costing double what it does in Kenya.

The distance from Kenya to Egypt is a much more manageable 2,928 kilometres. Both Egypt and Kenya being members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) means all goods exported between the two states are exempt from custom duties, fees and other taxes.

“There is a big market here for meat and livestock products because Egyptians do eat a lot of meat, ” Otieno explained.

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Cairo forecasts Egypt’s cattle total slaughter in 2021 at 1.79 million head, up by 1.5 percent or increasing by 25,000 animals. In terms of trade Egypt’s live cattle imports forecasts in 2021 were 200,000 head. The import share of meat into the country is scheduled to increase due to beef production input costs being high in the North African nation.