Botswana Meat Commission Records P54m Profit

The state-owned enterprise, the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), has recorded a P54 million profit for the 2025 financial year, marking what management describes as a transition from recovery to stabilisation. Addressing Lobatse Town Council on Wednesday, BMC Chief Technical Advisor, Mr Oabona Ramotshwara said the Commission achieved an unaudited profit of P54.3 million for the year ended 31 December 2025, reversing a P132 million loss recorded in 2024. He said the performance was underpinned by improved throughput at the Lobatse Plant, which slaughtered 62 204 cattle in 2025, compared to 51 070 cattle in 2024, representing a 22 per cent increase.

Plant utilisation improved from 49 per cent to 60 per cent. Mr Ramotshwara attributed the improved performance to stronger margins, tighter cost control, faster cash conversion, and enhanced farmer incentives. However, he noted that the recent outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) had slowed operations in 2026.

Although the Lobatse abattoir has a capacity to slaughter 600 cattle per day, it is currently underutilised due to FMD protocols. He explained that while the Department of Veterinary Services had granted permission for local slaughter, BMC was primarily an export facility and could not be sustained by local slaughter alone. He said the Commission was awaiting completion of vaccination and surveillance processes by Veterinary Services before resuming export operations.

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“We are currently undertaking maintenance shutdown works so that when we resume export production, we are fully prepared and not hindered by pending maintenance,” he said. Mr Ramotshwara further identified ageing infrastructure as a key operational risk. “The structure was constructed many years ago and we continue to repair it.

Some parts are no longer fixable, and some manufacturers of spare parts no longer exist. We are making strategic upgrades to ensure continuity of operations,” he said. He revealed that BMC generated P1.04 billion in revenue in 2025, of which nearly P700 million, approximately 70 per cent, was spent on cattle procurement.

He described the business as high-cost and said management continued to explore innovative ways to manage operating expenses. On global market volatility, Mr Ramotshwara said logistics disruptions and international conflicts had affected operations.

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