South Africa’s Cattle Industry
South Africa — Cattle Industry
Population
1990: 40746268; 2024: 64007187
Cattle inventory
1990: 13300000; 2024: 12122027 An
FAOSTAT (Production: Crops and livestock products)
Beef production
1990: 609000; 2024: 1101970 t
FAOSTAT (Production: Crops and livestock products)
Beef imports
1990: 33567.1; 2024: 53718.91 t
FAOSTAT (Trade: Crops and livestock products)
Beef exports
1990: 3046.5; 2024: 59190.13 t
FAOSTAT (Trade: Crops and livestock products)
Beef slaughtered
1990: 2665000; 2024: 3163619 An
FAOSTAT (Production: Crops and livestock products)
Beef offtake rate
1991: 21.8; 2024: 26.1 %
Derived as head slaughtered ÷ total cattle inventory × 100.
Derived from FAOSTAT cattle inventory and slaughter
Selected grain and feed imports
Supplier breakdown from the FAOSTAT Detailed Trade Matrix, latest year with recorded import value per country; feed items summed. Reported by the importing country.
FAOSTAT (Trade: Crops and livestock products)
Maize (corn)
1991: 150393 tonnes; 2024: 20799.52 tonnes
Wheat
1991: 806506 tonnes; 2024: 2037418 tonnes
Barley
1991: 0 tonnes; 2024: 124105.07 tonnes
Sorghum
1991: 1092 tonnes; 2024: 164537.38 tonnes
Oats
1991: 28000 tonnes; 2024: 39743.94 tonnes
Soya beans
1991: 5134 tonnes; 2024: 62467.63 tonnes
Cake of soya beans
1991: 56443 tonnes; 2024: 154012.64 tonnes