WANDILE SIHLOBO: Co-operation between the government and farmers over the wool ban is a template for other issues
The reopening of exports to China comes at an opportune time as the season has recently started
SA’s wool exports to China recently resumed after nearly four months’ suspension. China had cited the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak as a reason to suspend SA’s wool imports, despite the existence of a unique protocol to handle wool shipments and avoid contamination in the event of such an outbreak.
SA and China agreed on this protocol after the 2019 outbreak, which weighed on exports. However, China may have faced capacity constraints during the Covid-19-related lockdowns of recent months, possibly leading to delays in activating the protocol. Notably, this foot-and-mouth disease outbreak has been specific to cattle, not sheep. Industry role players were therefore appropriately dismayed when China suspended wool imports from SA citing this outbreak as the reason...
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