COVID - 19 Update

As you are fully aware, the current COVID 19 pandemic is seriously impacting on the livestock sector particularly the poultry industry notably regarding supplies of essential materials including vaccines, drugs and biologicals. Many raw materials for the manufacture of veterinary drugs in industrialized countries come from China, where production has been seriously curtailed. The effects are already seen and will unfortunately continue for many months to come. Although some production has already resumed in China, it is functioning at low capacity mainly due to a shortage of labor and other logistics.  Transport of ingredients from ports and strategic reserves for exports has been seriously disrupted by restrictions.  Ports are currently unable to process containers at the normal rate and plug-ins for reefers are unavailable in some Chinese ports. Manufacture of veterinary drugs and vaccines in Europe and the USA which are dependent on inputs from China, is therefore seriously hampered. The scarcity of raw materials has caused significant raise in prices at source. In addition, the cancellation of international flights by most countries has further slowed down the exports of drugs and vaccines from Europe and the USA. Cargo planes have inevitably increased their tariffs (in some cases by over 100%) due to inadequate loads which render the operations not optimally profitable. Furthermore, uncertainties and long delays regarding the issue of export/import permits have become common as many countries in partial or total confinement are offering only essential services by a skeleton staff.  Maurivet Ltd., drew the attention of its major clients in a recent circular and urged them to plan their stocks for several months to avoid shortage of vital products especially poultry vaccines. Several clients responded positively and Maurivet Ltd. has been able to receive a few consignments before the total confinement and the ban of international passenger flights. Clients who placed orders are invited to take deliveries in case they have not done so yet. However, some consignments are still detained in in a few countries. Negotiations are on going with the exporters and the Veterinary Services (VS) of Mauritius to speed up clearances of those drugs and vaccines. I would like here to thank the VS and the Government of Mauritius for considering veterinary operations as essential services in accordance with the recommendations of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Veterinary Association (WVA) and are giving top priority to the issue of clearances of imported veterinary drugs and vaccines.