DISEASE PUTS ZIMBABWE BEEF EXPORTS IN JEOPARDY
  Zimbabwe's beef exports to the European
  Community (EC), potentially worth 70 mln Zimbabwean dlrs this
  year, may be jeopardised by an outbreak of foot and mouth
  disease in southwestern Matabeleland, industry sources said.
      The country has temporarily suspended beef exports to the
  EC because of the outbreak and awaits a decision from the EC
  veterinary committee, which is considering a formal ban.
      The outbreak in the country's main ranching province has
  already led neighbouring beef-producing Botswana and Zambia to
  bar beef and dairy imports from Zimbabwe, threatening the dairy
  industry with a loss of at least one mln dlrs in export
  revenue.
      "The situation is still uncertain at the moment. Normally
  when an outbreak occurs there is an automatic suspension of
  beef exports," one industry source said yesterday.
       Commenting on EC policy, he explained, "Depending on the
  seriousness of the outbreak the (veterinary) committee then
  decides on three options, allowing us to continue exporting
  beef from disease-free areas, clamping a three-month suspension
  on exports or banning us from exporting for a year. We are
  still awaiting their decision," he added, asking not to be
  identified.
      Zimbabwe was granted an export quota of 8,100 tonnes of
  high-grade beef to EC markets in 1985 after the country had
  spent millions of dollars erecting disease-control fences and
  upgrading abattoirs to meet stringent EC rules.
      Should the EC ban Zimbabwean exports, the country will be
  forced to sell its beef on glutted world beef markets at low
  prices, the source said. Projected earnings from beef sales
  could fall about 23 mln dlrs as a result, he said.
  

