Pakistan seeks better policies to boost meat exports

Better policies and government support can enhance Pakistan's export of processed meat, industry sources said on Monday (Mar 22).

"India is the leading meat exporter of the region, but it does not export beef, leaving a large potential market to Pakistan that should be exploited by providing incentives to the stakeholders," Pakistan Meat Processor Exporter Association vice president Mehar Asghar Ali said.

According to official figures, the share of processed meat in total export of the country is negligible at 0.5%.

A study conduct by media shows that the country had exported about 23,855 tonnes of meat worth US$74.4 million during 2008-09. It had also exported around 94,000 animals to Afghanistan that amounted to US$12.35 million. In 2008-09, meat production stood at 2.242 million tonnes.

According to the estimates of Pakistan Meat Processor Exporter Association, the annual beef production of the country is 1.549 million tonnes, mutton 0.587 million tonnes and poultry production is 0.106 million tonnes. Beef contributes almost 50% of total meat exports of the country, while mutton's share is around 23% and poultry is 17%. Exports account for only 1.8% of the total production.

Legally over US$60 million worth of frozen meat is exported to Gulf countries after processing from eight slaughterhouses. Five of these are in Lahore and three in Karachi.

Asgar said Pakistan has been exporting meat to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and some other gulf countries. He said that Pakistani livestock sector would attract substantial investments if meat export to the Asean were allowed.