Morocco calls for Australian live exports, but response from major player 'lukewarm'

A live sheep exporter says it is unlikely Australia will be able to help drought-ravaged Morocco with a request for shipments of livestock.

Key points:

A major exporter says Morocco would struggle to meet Australian export requirement “by quite some way”The country’s regional imports have been affected by multiple factorsMorocco’s drought has started to ease, but the country faces a lengthy recovery

As federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt continues with plans to ban the maritime live export of sheep by sea, officials have received a request from the North African country, which suffered one of its worst droughts in decades last year.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said the department had “received a request from Morocco to initiate negotiations for importation of livestock from Australia, including proposed conditions for trade”.

Rural Export and Trading WA managing director Murray Frangs said conflict and drought had impacted trade with some of Morocco’s usual Middle Eastern and African suppliers.

Food prices in Morocco have increased due to a combination of factors. (Sawida near Skoura, John Karwoski, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

He said there had been some interest from the Australian government about the logistics of exporting to Morocco, but “our initial response was lukewarm”.

“We outlined there are a number of factors that we’d have to overcome to get there and didn’t see that there would be any opportunity in the shorter to medium-term to address that,” Mr Frangs said.

“In the unlikely situation that this had a longer-term opportunity, it might be worth looking at — but at this stage it doesn’t appear to be that.”

Strict regulations

The Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) requires exporters to have arrangements in place for the humane handling and slaughter of livestock in the importing country.

A unique Australian regulation require assurances of humane treatment from countries receiving livestock. (AP: Mosa’ab Elshamy)

Australia is the only country in the world with this kind of regulatory system.

“I don’t think the current facilities and processes that they use [in Morocco] would be suitable,” Mr Frangs said.

“They wouldn’t get accreditation under our ESCAS system as they stand, and probably by quite some way.

“We haven’t had the experience of shipping live there, so we haven’t had the longer-term ability to work with importers to amend their processes.”

Most of Morocco’s population is Arab-Berber and live sheep and goats are particularly important during religious festivals such as Eid al-Adha.

Mr Frangs said his company had previously looked at Morocco as a potential alternative market, but factors including a 200 per cent import tariff on livestock, the country’s location and its processing systems did not make it a solid economic prospect.