International Meat Market and the Sudan Future as A Meat Exporting Country

This paper had been presented for promotion at the university of Khartoum. To get the full text please contact the other Omer Mustafa Mohamed and Ali Ahmed ElmardiLivestock is the largest subsector of the Sudanese domestic economy and is a growing contributor to exports. Sudan is characterized by vast areas of range and arable land which is either rain-fed or irrigated. Although it has a large population of livestock estimated to be 103 million heads of which 29.4, 39.1, 30.5 and 4.6 million head of cattle, sheep, goat and camel, respectively, but not yet included by the international standards among the main meat producers or exporters. Despite the low cost of the traditional method of animal production, still the prices are relatively high compared with international prices. In addition, Sudanese prices are constantly fluctuating between seasons and within the year. The main meat producing countries in the world are China, United States, Brazil, Germany and India, but the main producers are not necessarily the main exporters. A country like China consumes all the meat it produces and imports more. The main meat exporting countries are India, Brazil, Australia and the United States. India is the leading beef exporter in the world. The main meat markets in the world are South–East Asia, West Asia, North Africa, Gulf countries, Japan, N. Korea and US. The Global meat prices are affected by a number of factors mainly feed cost and drought. Meat production in warm climatic zones faces some specific problems that differ greatly from those encountered in the temperate zones. Therefore, an efficient well-developed production and marketing systems are needed so as, to compete in the international market with countries that are producing at the low cost and high quality. Meat quality can be improved by the application of available improved techniques throughout the processing chain. Range management and genetic improvement are key factors in any programs aiming at increasing efficiency of production