Pakistani exports of meat, poultry and poultry product have a huge opportunity to fill the gap of meat and poultry products of the United Arab Emirate, which is the second largest meat and poultry imports in the region as the UAE imposed a temporary ban on its imports from Brazil.
The United Arab Emirates has suspended shipments from six Brazilian meat plants and told importers to recall any of their products from local stores. Importers were told to withdraw these products and destroy them if necessary or return them to the country of origin under the supervision of food safety authorities in each emirate.
According a communiqué of the Embassy of Pakistan in Abu Dhabi to the Ministries of Commerce, the TDAP mentioned that the Ministry of Environment and Water, the UAE has ordered the removal of all Brazil origin products of meat and poultry from shelve in supermarkets and has imposed a temporary ban on import of meat , poultry and related products from Brazil.
The ban has been imposed in the wake of a recent raid by Brazil's Federal Police as part of a probe of food processors accused of bribing regulators to loosen oversight. Serious health and safety concerns have emerged as a result of these investigations. The allegation include bribing inspectors and politicians to overlook unsanitary practices such as processing rosin meat and shipping exports with traces of salmonella, and evidence that meatpackers falsified documentation (specially of Halal products) for exports to Europe, the Middle East, China, and other regions and countries.
The circular says that if the allegations are found to be true, there could be serious repercussion on Brazil's 16-billion-dollar halal trade with OIC countries. Specifically, Brazil's 100.98-million-dollar meat and 544.76-million-dollar poultry exports to the UAE would be open to question and may face permanent ban. Pakistan's exports of meat to UAE have around 70 to 80 million dollars during last two years against the total demand of 921.260 billion dollars.
Similarly, Pakistani exports of poultry and poultry products to the UAE also suffered due to the ban, and thus we cannot get a share in the UAE's poultry and poultry products market of $719.450 million. Since the ban on Pakistan's exports of poultry and poultry products was lifted recently, Pakistan has a chance to get its due share in that market with better efforts.
It is also worth mentioning that India has been the largest exporter of beef in the world since last year, and it has further widened its lead over second-ranked Brazil, with a projected total of 2.4 million tons exported in 2015 against Brazil's 2 million. But now India's role in the global meat trade sticks out in the largely Hindu country where vegetarianism is widespread.
In the recent past suppliers of buffalo meat have been roughed up by Hindu mobs in India and it may be a permanent setback to trade as some Indian politicians even call for a complete ban on the meat export industry, which generated about $5 billion in sales last year. Pakistan ranked 18th in the production of Halal Meat Market and its volume is only 2.9 percent of global Halal meat production.
Brazil and India were the largest exporters in the world in 2016 Australia and the United States. Four countries-India India, Brazil, Australia and the United States-exported more than 1 million metric tons of beef each in 2016. They accounted for roughly 66 percent of the world's beef exports in 2016.