Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Convenor for Standing Committee on Halal Meat Export Naseeb Ahmad Saifi has said that Halal meat export from Pakistan can touch $500 million mark in next five years if the coming government patronise livestock farmers and devise a co-ordinated and comprehensive policy for promotion of this industry.
In a statement issued on Friday, he claimed that Pakistan had made remarkable progress during last few years amongst the Halal meat exporters. He said Pakistan is most suitable country for livestock farming being an agricultural country and suitable weather. However, he regretted that Pakistan which is a Muslim agrarian country with good livestock production stands 81st in the rank of meat exporters.
He was all praised for the steps taken by the former Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif for promotion of Halal meat exports from Punjab and said if the coming government could also support the exporters on that pattern, they could earn precious foreign exchange for the country and strengthen the national economy. Saifi said that according to a survey global Muslim population is around 1.86 billion, which constitutes 30 per cent of the total world population. He said according to a report volume of Halal products was $635 billion dollars in the year 2010.
He said volume of Halal Market in US was $17.60 billion while Halal products constitute 18 per cent of the world food market. Similarly volume of Halal food of Europe had reached to $67 billion. He said many companies in Europe had converted themselves according to consumers of Halal products. However, he said our contribution was negligible in this trade.
He said that exporters of Halal food and meat were facing numerous challenges and hardships in Pakistan, which should be resolved at the earliest to promote food processing and export industry. He said that exporters should be given special incentives and get rid of unjustifiable taxes and export tax, interference of provincial institutions and uninterrupted gas and electricity supply. It would help not only this industry but also earn the precious foreign exchange and bridging the gap between our import and export bill.
'Indian Halal food export had reached $23 billion per annum, which should be a matter of concern for Pakistan,' Saifi added. He called for understanding the importance of mark of 'certified Halal products' on these products. He said that if Pakistan wanted to compete with other countries in WTO regime then it had to promote its products at international level and devise an effective policy for promoting products as certified Halal items at the earliest.
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