Spain will be immediately able to export beef, sheep and goats meat to Saudi Arabia

Spain will be immediately able to export beef, sheep and goats meat to the Kingdom of Saudi Araba, after formal authorization issued by the health authorities of this country, where good quality of Spanish meat products stand out. Such authorization comes after a long period of intensive negotiations between the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment and the Food Safety Authority Arabia (SFDA).

In November 2015, a delegation of technical and reprentatives of SFDA visited Spain in order to check the official control systems in the meat industry and livestock farms in our country and the system of official certification for export.

A visit that was settled in a manner satisfactory to the delegation of the SFDA, whose members were able to confirm the robustness and reliability of the control system and health certification in Spain. The long and intense process of negotiations between the Spanish authorities and Saudis, has materialized finally in an agreement on the health requirements and the model veterinary certificate for export.

To streamline the management of exports, the Ministry has a computer application (CEXGAN) (Foreign Trade Ganadero) from which users can access the model authorized veterinary certificate and the list of establishments authorized to export (total of 14).

It is now possible to export outside the European Union meat and beef products to 74 destinations, while for meat and meat products from sheep and goats, Spain has 45 open markets. These exports to third countries, which in 2014 reached the 24,440 tons, increased by 9.25% in 2015 to the 26,720 tons. Beef accounts for approximately 80% of exports, the main destinations Algeria, Ivory Coast, Hong Kong and Morocco.

Source: MAGRAMA