Morocco imported in March 2,000 cattle from Brazil and will soon import 3,000 more, said today Minister of Agriculture, Mohammed Sadiki.
Speaking as a guest in a forum hosted by MAP agency, the minister said Morocco has so far imported about 20,000 cattle, at an attempt to curb prices of meat, which recorded an unprecedented rise during the past weeks.
Brazilian beef sells for 65-67 dh in markets, he said, as public concern over Brazilian beef is at a high level over a recent mad cow disease scare that the Brazil reported to the World Health Organization.
A case of the disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, was detected a small farm in the Amazonian state of Pará about a month ago, leading to an embargo from Brazil’s biggest client, China, among other countries.
China has since resumed shipments of Brazilian beef, but said it would quarantine and conduct tests on meat before allowing its retail in the market.
Sadiki said Morocco would likewise perform safety and quality checks on cattle before meat arrives to markets.
He said claims on the imported cows carrying mad cow disease are ‘not true.’
Morocco’s main imports have come from France and Spain, “but price of the herd in Europe is exorbitant,” he said, which led the country to resort to Brazil for imports “ due to low price.”
To ease imports Morocco abolishedcustoms duties and value-added tax to encourage the supply of cattle destined for slaughter from Europe and Latin America.
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