Exporters of Halal meat have strongly opposed the government decision to allow live animals' export to Iran and Afghanistan, saying that it would depress hide and skin and value-added leather garments and products' exports and create meat shortage in the country.
Talking to Business Recorder here on Sunday, Chairman LCCI standing committee on Halal meat export Nasib Ahmad Saifi said that meat exporters have invested billions of rupees to set up modern slaughter houses and cold storage at the motivation of the Punjab government.
He said that their businesses was picking up in the several trillion dollar international halal meat market, the Federal government has unwisely allowed export of live animals to favour its cronies without realising that it would hit the common man and halal meat export and the entire leather sector of the country.
He said that the prices of the mutton, beef and poultry had already hit the sky and the leather sector including hides and skin, leather garments etc were facing shortage of raw material due to which the manufacturers were laying off their skilled workers and artisans.
Saifi said that by exporting live animals, in addition to milk and meat, Pakistan would be losing 14 by products including hides, skins, wool, hair, edible offal, casing, blood, horns, bones, fats, dung, urine, heads and trotters earning valuable foreign exchange for the country.
He said that halal meat and the leather industry was providing jobs to more than a million people and now their jobs were under threat due to the government's unilateral decisions and policies.
He said with the establishment of modern slaughter houses, the country was at the threshold of earning huge amount of foreign exchange due to value-added exports of meat in the huge internal market for Halal meat and beef. It was also making available substantial quantity of hides and skin for the leather industry.
Instead of exporting live animal, the government must encourage the investors for setting up modern slaughter houses as in the multi-trillion Halal market Pakistan' share was negligible. Being a Muslim country, Pakistan should be a leading player instead, he added.
The withdrawal of decision could help generate employment and give boost to exports of Halal meat/beef, leather sector, casings and other allied product saifi added. Agriculture and livestock experts say that livestock accounts for 11.4 percent of the GDP. Its value is higher than all the agricultural produce including major, minor, and fruits and vegetables. The target for livestock produce has been set at 5 percent per year till 2030 in order to achieve a 50 percent overall growth in the coming two decades. At the moment the five year average growth in the sector is around 3.25 percent and the last year growth has been 4.1 percent.
The appetite for Pakistani meat is strong in both domestic and export markets. Growth in export of meat has been witnessed in the last three years. In 2006-7 meat exports were $47.6 millions and in 2008-9 it have risen to $74.4 million. Exports of live animals should be marginalised and only meat be exported. The whole animal export hurts local leather and processed food market that in turn hurts our exports, they added.
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