Economic Indicators of Red Meat Production in Egypt

Abstract

The study shows that the average annual per capita consumption of red meat was about 13.4 kg during the period 2005-2020 with a minimum of about 9.03 kg in 2020 and a maximum of about 17.07 kg in 2007. The results of the time trend equation reveals that meat self-sufficiency in red meat has declined during the period 2005-2020 by a statistically significant ratio of about 1.45%. The study shows that the annual average of beef production in Egypt was about 347.5 thousand tons during the period 1990-2020. Time trend equations show that the amount of beef increased annually by about 7.45 thousand tons during the study period. It appears that the annual average of sheep meat production in Egypt amounted to about 70.7 thousand tons during the study period with a minimum of 42.0 thousand tons in 2019 and a maximum of 86.0 thousand tons in 2007-2008.The time trend analysis show that production of sheep meat decreased annually by 8 kg during the study period. This rate of decline was statistically insignificant. The total number of government slaughterhouses in Egypt amounted to about 486 in year 2020. About 464 slaughterhouses are manual in nature and about 7 slaughterhouses are semi-automatic. The remaining 15 slaughterhouses are fully automated. The ratio of the total slaughtered animals in government slaughterhouses amounted to 28.90% as an average for the study period. That means that about 71 percent of all animals are slaughtered away from the public eye with no monitoring or inspection. The study recommends that efforts should be extended to establish more live animal markets and modern slaughterhouses. The distribution of slaughterhouses should be taken into consideration the size of population, the size of animal stocks, and the purchasing power of consumers. The objective here is to minimize the transportation costs to and from slaughterhouses and to keep strict monitoring of the food safety regulations.