Export permit to South Africa for Finnish pork

South Africa has approved the import of unheated frozen pork from Finland to its market.

Finland and South Africa have agreed on the terms of exporting unheated pork and on the animal health certificate to be used in export operations. Export operations can be started when the South African authorities have included Finnish meat establishments in the list of abattoirs and de-boning plants approved by South Africa.

The project on market access for pork started in September 2011. A year ago, in January 2023, Finland received an export licence for exporting heated pork products to South Africa. The export licence now granted for unheated pork will further increase the export opportunities. 
“This export licence to South Africa is an important step forward to promote the opportunities for food exports in Finland. The Ministry, the Finnish Food Authority and our Embassy have worked for a long time to promote these exports, and now we can see the results. The door is now open for Finnish companies with respect to unheated pork exports as well,” says Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sari Essayah.

South Africa is a very interesting market for Finnish food products. Besides pork, Finnish milling and fisheries products and egg and dairy products have access to the South African market. A project concerning market access for poultry meat was started at the same time as the project on pork in September 2023, but this is still pending approval.

More information on commercial exports of food products from Finland to countries outside the EU is available on the website of the Finnish Food Authority. 


Inquiries:

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry:
Hentriikka Kontio, Senior Ministerial Adviser, tel. +358295162423, hentriikka.kontio@gov.fi 

Finnish Food Authority
Tanja Nurmi, Head of Section, tel. +358505051223,