BMC focuses on Norway cash cow

Hopeful of re-entry into the lucrative European Union market next month, the BMC says all slaughter at Lobatse for the rest of the year will be targeted at fulfilling a 1,350 tonne quota for Norway, key to the parastatal's crisis-weary 2011 finances. The annual contract needs to be fulfilled by December 31, giving the BMC effectively three months to slaughter and satisfy the quota.

Already, the Commission has 6,000 cattle in feedlots at Lobatse and is targeting another 6,000 to enable it to meet the Norway contract, which, while smaller than contracts in the United Kingdom, represents the Commission's "best value market."