End Market Analysis of Ethiopian Livestock and ... - USAID Microlinks

led most exporters to send livestock directly to Yemen: by 2008, approximately 60-70 percent of Bosasso’s exports
went to Yemen.
Two livestock quarantine facilities have recently been constructed in Bosasso. One (the Puntland Livestock Facility) is
owned by a joint venture of over 100 local traders, while the other (Al Khaleej Livestock Export Facility) is, like its
twin facility in Berbera, jointly owned by Al Jabri and Ras Al Kheyman. Al Khaleej is the larger of the two facilities,
with a total capacity of 325,000 shoats and 10,000 camels and cattle. The Puntland Livestock Facility has capacity for
120,000 shoats and 5,000 cattle and camels and is intended to compete with Al Khaleej; however, the Government
has promised the entire Saudi trade to Al Khaleej.
The GCC has recently banned the use of dhows for livestock transport, requiring that livestock carriers be used
instead. Some importing companies own livestock carriers; however, there is a shortage of such specialized vessels. 43
INCREASED SAUDI INFLUENCE
The monopoly of Saudi companies over export of live animals from the Horn—Abu Yasser in Djibouti and Al Jabri
in Somaliland and Puntland—is one of several symptoms of increasing Saudi influence in the livestock trade in the
region. The presence of Saudi traders in Ethiopian livestock markets is the other major symptom. In the short term,
increased Saudi involvement has facilitated access to the Gulf market as well as investment in infrastructure (Berbera
and Djibouti quarantine facilities). However, these monopolies have led to price setting (e.g. in Berbera where the
price of exports was set at $35-36 per head) and complaints of preferential treatment. In the longer term, these
monopolies—together with the practice of foreign importers purchasing livestock at secondary markets in Ethiopia—
raise concerns over increased foreign ownership within the Ethiopian livestock value chain.
KENYA/SOMALIA CHANNEL
A significant number of cattle is exported from southern Ethiopia, both from Borena Zone in Oromiya Region and
from Afder and Liben zones of Somali Region. 44 Trade routes are complex and difficult to categorize, as they operate
at the junction of Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya, but it is estimated that 25-30 percent of the animals sold in Kenya
originate in Ethiopia and Somalia. Another route for exports to Kenya is from Gode and Warder zones in Ethiopia’s
Somali Region, to Belet Weyen in central Somalia, and on from Somali into Kenya. In 1999, it is estimated that the
total number of cattle exported through this route exceeded 50,000. 45 More recent data was not available at the time
of this study.
Animals from Ethiopia and Kenya are trekked across the border, sold in livestock markets in Northern Kenya and
trucked to terminal markets in Nairobi and other cities. Some of this livestock is kept in ranches for fattening prior to
sale. 46 This inflow of livestock occurs when there is a lull in demand from the Middle East, and is different from
seasonal cross-border migration that occurs in the typical pastoral search for water and pasture.
SUDAN CHANNEL
47
The primary livestock export from Ethiopia to Sudan is male cattle originating in Amhara Region. In 2007, it is
estimated that 100,000 head of cattle were exported through this route, using both formal and informal channels.
Approximately 40 percent of this trade was through formal/legal channels, down from 50 percent in 2005, while the
other 60 percent was informal. The growing share of the informal trade is likely due to a combination of foreign
currency requirements for export (see details above) and the absence of Sudanese requirement for a health certificate
43 Mohammed 2008
44 Elias Mulugeta et al 2007: p. 5
45 Elias Mulugeta et al 2007: p. 6, quoting Little et al 1999
46 CARE International Kenya 2010: p. 11
47 Data for this section obtained from Elias Mulugeta et al 2007
END MARKET ANALYSIS OF ETHIOPIAN LIVESTOCK AND MEAT 15