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.