Saudi regime undermines Sudanese livestock trade

The Saudi authorities have caused millions of dollars in losses to Sudanese livestock and sheep traders after delaying the entry of Sudanese cattle shipments into their lands without providing sufficient reasons or providing feed and water for livestock, which caused their death.

The Sudanese news agency SUNA quoted the Sudanese livestock division rapporteur Khalid Wafi as expressing his concern and regret that the Sudanese livestock exporters were damaged in Riyadh and suffered millions of dollars in losses due to the late entry of about 6 ships loaded with sacrifices to the Kingdom.

Wafi said that the Saudi authorities have detained the vessels for more than a week despite the completion of all health and veterinary procedures, which led to the deaths of more than 25 thousand heads of livestock and suffered huge financial losses to exporters.

He called on the Sudanese authorities to address Riyadh to compensate the exporters for the losses suffered by them, as he called for the formation of an investigation committee to detect the reason for the delay in unloading the Sudanese vessels.

Wafi also called for the formation of a commission of inquiry to clarify the delay in emptying Sudanese ships and protecting Sudanese exports.

Wafi said that the process of unloading the ships was delayed for more than a week without providing water and food, which led to the death of thousands of heads, stressing that more than 15 Sudanese exporters were affected.

This incident is similar to an incident that Turkish exporters have experienced recently, as 80 Turkish trucks loaded with various commodities, including fruits, were suspended at the Kingdom’s customs crossings for about 12 days, before the Saudi authorities allowed them to enter without revealing the reason behind the delay.

The Sudanese economy places high hopes on the export sector, as one of the country’s scarce foreign exchange streams, which has caused a sharp fall in the local currency.

Under the complicated political conditions in the country, following the overthrow of the regime of former President Omar al-Bashir, livestock exporters are trying to bridge the foreign exchange revenue gap by exporting the largest number of livestock abroad, and Riyadh is one of the countries targeted for export.

The decision to restrict the export of livestock from Sudan, which was issued by the Transitional Military Council this week, triggered wide reactions due to the suspension of exports from the main market in the region of Al-Khwa “Gharb”. The Kingdom is considered the largest market for Sudanese livestock, according to official data.

The military council demanded the restriction of export certificates of all kinds of male cattle, except after obtaining the written approval and approved by the Bank of Sudan, and canceled any previous presidential or ministerial decisions related to the export of female Sudanese cattle of all kinds: sheep, goats, camels and cows.

Cattle treasurer Salama Abdullah Rashid said that there is a manipulation in the exports of livestock by individuals who have nothing to do with exporting to foreign markets.

Illegal exports had negatively affected the domestic market, where meat prices had risen, he said.

A well-informed source revealed that there were fictitious traders who entered the livestock trade and did not return export earnings again.

He said: “The work has been multiplied names (fake) to facilitate export deals in violation of the law.”

The former decision of the Exporters Division Khalid Wafi that the decision is aimed at brokers and fictitious records that originated in the era of the former regime and wasted a lot of revenue that was supplying the state treasury.

He revealed that the country lost about $ 640 million in livestock exports during the period from December 2018 to June 30 last year and the loss of export revenues in the period (2014-2018) worth $ 1 billion and 760 million dollars.

He stressed that the decisions would reduce the prices of livestock in the country significantly, expecting that the local markets will see stability in the markets of sheep sacrifice, and thus the price of meat for the local consumer.

The sources said that the decisions would stop the chaos in the livestock market, and the decision to ban females preserves the livestock in the country.

Despite a constitutional challenge by exporters in the past to stop female exports, they failed until the recent military council decision.