Islamic Banking need to be promoted in SME sector

Saturday, March 08, 2014 - Karachi—The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) has submitted recommendations for the serious consideration of the policy makers in the forthcoming budget and trade policies in order to stimulate the economy which can only be done by promoting the majority SME sector wholeheartedly and giving them a comfortable environment. The Union believes that SME promotion and development is no charity but it is the right of every SME and responsibility of the state to uplift the sector. The state must provide them equitably and make dedicated efforts to make doing business easy.

The SME sector includes traders, manufacturers, farmers and service providers. There are millions of SMEs all over Pakistan including many hospitals schools and consultants’ services. We were told 15 years ago that they were 3.2 millions SMEs but we are sure if you also include the SME farmers there would be almost 6 millions by now. We have created awareness about the importance of the sector and identified the impediments and have submitted recommendations every year for inclusion in the budget, trade policy, industrial policy and have urged the ministry of industries to revisit the SME policy made in 2007. We keep voicing the requirements of the sector all the time. The SME issues are poor law and order, loadsheding, poor infrastructure, lack of finance, information, transfer of technology, incentives and defective taxation system other than the corruption, non implementation of SME policy in right earnest. The union has submitted the following recommendations to SMEDA for onward submission to the concerned policy makers.

Law & Order: We have suggested the formation of SME Liaison Committee (SME-LC) on the pattern of the CPLC to arrange collective protection squads in industrial areas as the SMEs are threatened by gangsters and politically patronized miscreants. The SMEs need a strong committee to work as liaison between the police and the entrepreneurs and to exert pressure on the police to trace the culprits and prosecute them. The SME-LC chief must get the status of honorary first class magistrate to prevail on the police department and the relevant S.H.Os. 

Energy Crisis: We have suggested that alternate energy systems must be promoted and those SMEs willing to install alternate energy devices of solar, wind, Biomass be encouraged and the government needs to exempt the import of alternate energy systems on duty and leasing facilities must be provided on special affordable mark-up. Finance: This is a very important issue, as banks are demanding immovable property as collateral. The banks need to be educated on the subject of SME financing and taught risk management. The commercial banks need training and education on collateral management, warehouse financing, also financing on the basis of positive cash flows and the government must promote Islamic financing, leasing, hire purchase, commercial property leasing. The union has urged the government not to privatize the SME Bank but make it an SME Bank in the real sense.

The union has also urged the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to establish the SME Guarantee Insurance Company to insure SME financing and indemnify the banks against default by the borrowers. The SME needs venture capital and the system of venture capital needs to be promoted. The SMEs are looking forward to the establishment of the Exim bank as promised in the trade policy. Infrastructure: The infrastructure is poor and the SMEs are disabled due to poor infrastructure in the industrial areas. There is need for industrial estates and the need for government to allot land at concession for industrial estates. The leasing companies must adopt commercial property leasing to finance the SMEs to buy shops, workshops, warehouses and factories under commercial property leasing.

Technology Transfer: The SMEs need to import technology to manufacture quality goods and the government should facilitate collaboration with advanced countries to enable SMEs to manufacture goods with indigenous raw material and also import substitution goods in Pakistan.

Source: http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=235662

Expand Export Of Malaysian Halal Products Using Pakistan As Platform, Says Council

Malaysian companies should make Pakistan a platform to expand the export of halal-based products to the Middle East and Central Asia.

This can be done by utilising its abundant resources, said the Pakistan-Malaysia Business Council chairman, M. Bashir Janmohammed.

Pakistan is ranked fifth globally for milk production, has the second largest rock salt reserves, is the third largest in mango production and the tenth largest for Mandarin orange production, with an animal population of over 110 million for cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats, camels, among others.

Bashir was confident that Malaysian companies, with their expertise in processing and packaging, an efficient supply chain and well known marketing skills, can jointly captitalise on Pakistan's unique geographical location.

"Pakistan can serve as a perfect corridor to expand the business in the halal sector," he told Bernama, after a meeting with Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister, Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas here last night.

Uggah is leading a palm oil promotion mission to Pakistan and Iran from January 14 to 22.

He is accompanied by Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) Chairman, Datuk Lee Yeow Chor, Malaysian Palm Oil Board Director-General, Datuk Dr Choo Yuen May and MPOC Chief Executive Officer, Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron.

Bashir also invited Malaysian companies to Pakistan and search for potential joint ventures in various industrial sectors, including ship breaking, pharmaceuticals, palm oil refining, food processing, sports goods and in the
construction sector.

"We also need urgent help in the exploration and production of gas as well as projects in the energy sector," he said.

To date, Malaysian companies have invested in Pakistan in an oil refinery, a liquid cargo terminal, bulking installation of edible oil storage, rice, energy, the infrastructure sector and oil exploration.

On trade, Bashir pointed out that it is crucial to create an awareness of the trade opportunities for the business community of both countries, and maximise on each other's potential to take advantage of the Free Trade
Agreement sealed in November 2007.

Bilateral trade has been on an uptrend since 2007, moving from US$1.362 billion (RM4.49 billion) to touch USUS$2.8 billion in 2011.

Unfortunately, the bilateral trade saw a decline of 24.8% in 2012 to US$2.11 billion, with exports from Pakistan amounting to US$252.89 million and imports from Malaysia at around US$1.86 billion.

Bashir said the balance of trade has been a negative for Pakistan for over a decade and requiring a narrow-down, while increasing Pakistan's exports to Malaysia.

"There is a need to address the trade imbalance by diversifying trade products besides palm oil.

"This can be done by increasing the volume of exports of non-basmati rice, halal food products and frozen seafood to Malaysia. This is given the sizeable demand and fact that Malaysia imports such products from neighbouring countries," he added.

At a dinner with over 30 Pakistani captains of industry, hosted by the Pakistan-Malaysia Business Council last night, Uggah in his speech said:

"Some of the issues raised by the council are under my portfolio and some under other ministries.

"But my responsibility is to take these issues back home for us to consider and improve our trade and investment relations,".

He also expressed hope that the Pakistani business community would realise that Malaysia's population currently stood at around 29 million – slightly higher than that of Karachi – and therefore, purchasing capacity was limited.

He also invited the Pakistani business community to consider Malaysia as a launching pad to penetrate the South East Asian market, home to 500 million people.

Source: Malaysian Digest

Halal Soap

Muhammad Zubair Mughal

zubair.mughal@halalrc.org

The relation between soap and human is as old as the history of culture. Soap has always been the part of civilized society in different shapes either in the shape of Soil collection or mixture of tree leaves and vegetables or mixture of ash and oils while, presently, it comes up with the unique blend of various chemical components, as it is known as liquid soap, beauty soap, toilet soaps and antibacterial soaps etc which is the dire need of each house. As per a careful estimate, about 6 billion people of the world use soap daily and this number is prominently increasing day by day.

But current chemical components and scientific developments have raised differnt questions about the Halal authenticity of soap and have evidently proved the involvement of non Halal ingredients i.e. Tallow extracted from the fat of swine, chemical from the haram animals’ flow “Satiric Acid” which is obtained from Lards and all this mixture and blending have distinguished between the division of Halal and haram. While in Islam the matter of Halal and Haram is not only confined to foods rather it is also applied on services (Islamic Banking, Islamic mode of businesses and Islamic Finance etc), clothes and tangible items such as Cosmetics, Soap and Paint  etc. When man enters in the category of impurity by touching some haram animals and it becomes mandatory to have shower (Ghusal), then now would it be justified to take bath while using the soaps which is produced with chemicals from the ingredients obtained from same animals? Will his worship be accepted after using that soap? 

Hence, it is needed that we should discriminate Halal and Haram in tangible (consumable) items along with food and services. We buy and adopt with joy the leather made imported items such as shoes and hand bags imported from Italy and other countries but do we ever think of the ingredients used in those products and the skin of the animal which was used in those products? Whether the Halal animals are utilized in those countries? If “No” then which animal’s skin was used as leather? Which chemicals are used in dying processing of towel that we use to clean the face. Is it obtained from swine’s Fat? Which chemicals are used in our paint industry etc? These are the matters of deep concentration that I leave on the readers who need to make the efforts to avoid haram a part of our life. The prime objective of this piece of writing is not to put the Muslims into the fear rather to highlight the issues caused by latest chemical evolution. If we analyze the current volume of cosmetics industry globally which is about US $ 335 billion but share of Halal cosmetics is US $ 13 billion while our, Muslim, population is about 1.6 billion which is the 26% of whole world population, so, as per these figures

non-Halal cosmetics have more consumption in Muslim countries and the main reason behind it is the lack of awareness and no discrimination between Halal and haram in material items. May Allah (Subhana wa’a Taala’a) forgive us for the sins caused by lack of awareness and give us enough strength to avoid them in future (Ameen). 

Halal Research Council (HRC), keeping in view the social, religious and professional responsibilities, inaugurated a specialized department for state of the art research in Soaps, Cosmetics, Dyeing and Paint Chemical to resolve the problems in these industries through in depth research to give a clean and purified society to the Muslim world. 

Halal Soap

Penang halal expo from Friday

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang International Halal Exposition and Convention will be held from Friday to Sunday, here, for the fifth time.

State Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs committee chairman Datuk Abdul Malik Abul Kassim said over 200 local and foreign companies would set up their booths at Subterranean Penang International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

"The halal market is an emerging industry worth billions of ringgit in the global market.

"The huge international market is a big opportunity for Malaysia trade exhibitors to showcase their products," said Malik.

He said a total of 266 booths would be put up at the concourse and main arena.

Malik said the international exhibitors would be from the Netherlands, Belgium, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Morocco, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and Thailand.

He added that non-Muslim groups had been the main consumers in the halal industry. 

Source: NST

Muslims having problem in "halal meat" in US

Owner of the biggest halal slaughter facility said 60 percent of "halal" certified meat was not actually halal

NEW YORK - One of the most important questions for Muslims abroad is "halal meat" certificate and how they can trust them.

The need of "halal meat" for millions of Muslims in the US is met by many facilities.

The slaughter facilities are inspected by several certification bodies but there are also black sheep among them which send the certificate via internet.

Especially in New York's smallest and most densely populated neighborhood, Manhattan, you can buy "halal meat" phrased food on every corner. However, there are some questions about the hygienic conditions and whether the meat was slaughtered according to Islamic law.

Suleyman Duman, an official for Islamic services in Turkish Consulate General in New York told AA, "our people who live abroad must examine whether the meat they consume is halal slaughtered or not."

Duman said that a Muslim had to say the words "Bismillahi Allahu Akbar" before slaughtering the animal, and added that he had to cut its throat and let it bleed before using electroshock.

Ali Kucukkarca, the owner of the biggest halal slaughter facility in the east of the US, told AA that many institutions which gave a halal certificate were not reliable.

Kucukkarca said, "60 percent of the meat which is being sold with halal certificate in New York and New Jersey is not halal." Kucukkarca underlined that some Turkish butchers also sold meat which was not halal and noted, "one of the most reliable and biggest institutions giving "halal meat" certificate is 'Shari'ah Board of America'."

Kucukkarca reminded that the Jewish butchers were also checked by inspectors who handed out certificates. "But the inspectors, who check the Muslims do not visit their stores or control anything because the Muslim community do not make such a demand."

Source: Turkish Press

Jakim slams falsifying of halal logo on pictured beer can

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia Islamic Development Department (Jakim) today denied approving the use of the halal logo on alcoholic drinks as depicted on a beer can shown on Facebook and the Whatsapp application.

The department's Halal Hub director, Hakimah Mohd Yusoff in a statement said Jakim had lodged a report on the matter at the Putrajaya police station for investigation.

This followed complaints and information received from the public on the picture of the Carlsberg can of beer with the halal logo on it appearing on the social media.

"We stress here that Jakim has never issued the halal certification or approved the use of the halal logo by the company or on its products. In fact, other products produced at the same manufacturing plant would not be issued with the halal certification or logo even it these are not alcoholic drinks," Hakimah said.

She said action could be taken against any quarters under the Trade Description (Certification and Marking of Halal) Order 2011 for misuse of the halal logo.

"Jakim regards the display of the picture as ill-intended and an attempt to undermine the department's credibility as a body responsible for halal certification in Malaysia and which is recognised nationally and internationally.

"The action will also not only create negative perception of Jais but could also hurt religious sensitivities.

"Therefore, Jakim condemns the falsifying of the halal logo, whether deliberately or with the intention to provoke, which could also create polemic among the public on the matter," she added.

She hoped consumers would not be taken in by false news spread via the social websites by irresponsible quarters and that such misdeeds should stop.

Meanwhile, Putrajaya police chief, ACP Abdul Razak Abdul Majid, when contacted, confirmed having received the police report on the matter.-- BERNAMA

Source: www.nst.com.my

Jordan is promoting Islamic/Halal Tourism

Jordan has launched a campaign to attract tourists from Muslim countries to boost the domestic tourism sector, reported the al-Hayat newspaper.

“The board launched a campaign to promote Islamic tourism in Jordan and attract tourists from Muslim countries, especially from Malaysia and Indonesia, given that Jordan is a base and a gateway for holy Muslim and Christian shrines,” said Abdul Razaq Arabiyat, the managing director of the Jordan Tourism Board, in a released statement.

The campaign aims to boost the profile of religious sites in Jordan as an attraction for foreign tourists and seeks to promote religious tourism as “a main source of tourism revenues in the kingdom,” added Arabiyat.

A number of promotional programs have been adopted by the board to attract those Muslim tourists intending to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform the annual hajj pilgrimage, who then continue on with their religious tour by traveling to Jordan and Palestine.

“We’ve signed a number of agreements with tourism companies in Indonesia and Malaysia on visiting religious shrines in Jordan and Palestine… such as the site of the battles of Islamic conquests,” said Arabiyat.

International Halal accreditation centre to open in Dubai

The centre will ensure all products are free from chemical or artificial additives

Hussain Nasser Lootah, Acting DG of Dubai Municipality.

Dubai will soon have a new International Centre for Halal Food and Product accreditation in compliance with Islamic law.

Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director-General of Dubai Municipality, announced that the civic body will soon establish an international accreditation centre for Halal food in Dubai based on the initiative of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to make Dubai the world capital of Islamic economy.

Lootah said that an action team has been appointed to work according to administrative decision No 359 of 2013 headed by Salem bin Mesmar, Assistant Director-General, Health, Safety and Environment Monitoring Sector, Dubai Municipality.

The members of the team include Khalid Sharif, Director of the Food Control Department; Amina Ahmed, Director, Accreditation Departmentp; Hawa Bastaki, Director, Dubai Central Laboratory; Noaf Al Naqbi, Head of Certification Bodies, Accreditation Section; Arif Marzouki, Head of Inspection and Certification Section; Maryam Salem Al Sallagi, Senior Food Microbiology Analyst; and Yousef Abdul Samad Al Rashid, Operations Health Specialist.

"The proposed centre will undertake the required tests for Halal food and other products to ensure that all such products are free from any chemical or artificial additives which are not complying with Islamic law, with the aim to be the first international reference in the food industry worldwide," Lootah added.

Salem bin Mesmar said, "A specific centre for accreditation and certification has been already established for the comprehensive systematic coverage of Halal food operations at local level. The current facilities and infrastructure of Dubai will help it easily establish this first international centre in the field of Halal food accreditation."

UAE: Halal food gains momentum

The halal food industry is gaining momentum in conventional and non-conventional markets across the globe due to its hygienic and safety qualities, say exhibitors at second OIC Halal Middle East Exhibition and Congress.

The industry stakeholders said investors are increasingly looking opportunities to make investments in halal food products to capitalise growth in this untapped market across many geographies. They also hailed various initiated launched by the UAE government to promote halal industry and said Dubai has strong potential to become the capital of Islamic economy in coming years.

The three-day exhibition and congress attracted exhibitors from non-conventional halal food markets like Italy, South Korea, Russia and Japan, among others. They were upbeat about the outlook of halal food market even in those countries where Muslims are in minority. Over 125 exhibitors and 200 delegates are attending the three-day event, which concluded on Wednesday.

“Halal food is picking up in Italy and we are confident of its success in the country because of its popularity even in non-Muslim population,” Mansur Giuseppe Baudo, audit manager at Halal Italia, told Khaleej Times.

He said Halal Italia is the Italian organisation for Islamic certification and it is also recognised from UAE’s Ministry of Environment and Water and Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura — Islamic Religious Council of Singapore.

“The UAE ministry issued a decree in 2012 to recognise Halal Italia certification, and now our certification is acceptable in all other countries of Gulf Cooperation Council including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain,” he said.

Baudo said halal food is very popular in Italy and playing a key role in establishing close relations between East and West.

Echoed the same views from another non-conventional market, Korea Halal Association advisor Jo Young Chan said halal food prospects are bright in the country. “Our association is a non-profit body that has been formed to provide a common platform to stakeholders in Korea halal industry,” he said.

Chan said the association right now has only 10 members, but due to growing popularity and demand of halal products he is confident of about 200 to 300 members in next five years. “

Halal food industry is growing rapidly in Korea despite low Muslim population and the association will start issuing its own halal certification from next year,” he said.

The exhibitors from Muslim nations are also buoyant about the future of halal food industry and said enormous opportunities exist in this fast growing segment. They underlined the need to uniform standards for halal certifications to realise the true potential of halal trade even in conventional markets of Muslim majority population countries.

“Halal food is progressing well and we see a promising outlook for the industry in coming years,” said Darningsih Rustiadji, director at Indonesian firm Deka Adiguna.

She said Indonesia is a big potential market for halal food and demand for halal products is on the rise as people are more cautious about edibles and shifting towards halal items.

“Halal food is not only for Muslims, it is getting popular even in non-conventional markets in Europe and Asia as we secure orders for our products from Netherlands, Korea and Japan,” she said, and adding that there is need to explore markets in South America.

Rustiadji said Middle East is a big potential market for Indonesian halal food products. “We have more than 100 halal products and secured reasonable orders from Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” she said.

Hamed Abedian, commercial manager at Iran’s Sefid Goosht Hamoon Company, said halal food future is good due to its growing demand and awareness in major markets. “We deal in fresh and frozen fish, chicken and beef. We are participating in the exhibition for the first time and hope to get good business,” he said.

Abedian appreciated the halal exhibition and congress to promote the halal food products and called for more strenuous efforts to explore new markets across the world.

Source: halalfocus.net

Pakistan all set to capture international halal food products market

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) is all set to take steps to foster halal industry of Pakistan and to capture the international Halal products market worth US$ 3 trillion.

An inter-ministerial meeting would soon be convened in this regard, to expedite the progress on Halal food and making the industry compliant to international standards.

“There is strong need of developing standards and enacting a law to advertise our Halal products, and will boost our export especially in Middle East and Europe”, a Ministry official told APP.

He said Pakistan needs Halal professionals because globalization of food trade and increased consumer awareness regarding food safety standards contribute towards new demands for halal, healthy and hygienic food.

“We possess all imperative elements for Halal products’ production and have to streamline them at par, the demand of the target community”, he added.

He said creation of Punjab Halal Development Agency (PHDA) is a step toward making Pakistan, Halal hub by opening new vistas for entering the global Halal market while serving the domestic consumer market.

The demand for healthy and safe agro-livestock food products is increasing rapidly with increasing population growth rate and socio-economic conditions.

This will also open up new economic opportunities and employment for the youth and traders. PHDA, being a leading entity of government of the Punjab is established to prescribe standards and processes for Halal Certification of food and non-food sector in line with research and advanced laboratory testing facilities.

Official said the Ministry of S&T will promote Halal Industry of Pakistan worldwide by maintaining International standards, adding Halal Standards for Livestock, Beverages, By-products, Cosmetics and other edibles will also be introduced, which will build trust on Pakistani products and enhance export volume.

Source: Aaj TV

British Muslims develop appetite for halal turkey

Covered in blood and Urdu script, the traditional halal butcher’s shop has catered to generations of Britain’s Muslims – serving up a platter of chicken, lamb and beef to mostly foreign-born customers.

But in a sign of changing consumer habits, they have taken to selling halal turkeys, as growing numbers of practising Muslims gobble up roast turkeys for Christmas dinner on the Christian feast day.

Last December, the Halal Monitoring Council certified 5,500 turkeys slaughtered in UK abattoirs. In 2011, they certified none. Last week alone, the HMC certified 1,500 turkeys.

Demand has taken many suppliers by surprise.

“I was shocked there was a market at all,” said Paul Kelly, managing director of Kelly Bronze Turkeys.

Ben Bayer, an executive at wholesaler DB Food, says there is “huge demand” for halal turkeys, but they are unable to meet it, as the UK’s biggest halal assurance body, the Halal Food Authority, does not yet certify any turkeys as halal.

Muslim butchers instead mostly import halal turkeys from Ireland and Italy. These are now even available at Smithfield Market in London.

A Financial Times survey of 20 halal butchers based in London, Lancashire and Essex found that over half sold halal turkeys in December – some for the first time this year.

JR Butchers in Tooting says it is on track to sell 2,500 turkeys this December – a 4 per cent rise on last year.

It is relatively recently that turkeys have waddled into the UK’s £2.6bn halal meat market, as estimated by the World Halal Forum, which is growing exponentially as the Muslim population grows.

Research by Eblex, the meat industry body, shows that Muslims constitute less than 4 per cent of Britons, yet account for 12-15 per cent of British meat consumption.

Turkeys are representative of the flush nature of an expanding market, which Javed Rashid, a partner at JR Butchers, describes as “the high end of halal”. It encompasses increasing Muslim demand for halal geese and halal free-range products.

“These are home-grown Muslims with a higher disposable income than their parents’ generation and are more at home with British customs – without compromising their faith,” said Noman Khawaja, founder of the Halal Food Festival who uses the term “haloodie” to describe these new halal “foodies”.

Businesses are increasingly catering to this market. Mr Rashid aims to give his customers “an education in meat, which old-fashioned halal butchers are unable to provide – they lack the product knowledge”.

Fast food outlets have long served halal meat in areas with a high Muslim population. Now more upmarket restaurants, from the PizzaExpress chain to China Tang in Mayfair, have halal menus, too.

John Man, senior manager at China Tang, believes that it is important the luxury restaurant “reflects its customer profile”, adding that “the quality of halal meat is always good, when other meat sometimes fails to meet our standards”.

The increasing diversity of the UK’s halal meat market reflects a bigger, worldwide trend. Last week, a Norwegian supplier of Scandinavian game meat unveiled the world’s first halal reindeer – enabling Norway’s Muslims to taste the traditional yuletide meat for the first time.

Source: www.ft.com

Pakistan a small player in global halal meat market

LAHORE: 

Pakistan is one of those countries in the world where climatic and other conditions support the livestock industry, but this industry lacks modernisation and is still a long way from becoming a leading player in the rapidly growing global halal food market.

In an attempt to give a boost to the industry, the government has made some efforts in the past few years, especially in Punjab, where the Punjab Agriculture and Meat Company (Pamco) has been established. However, it has yet to give desired results.

The private sector has been involved in this industry, but not aggressively because of issues like taxation, freight rates, energy crisis, etc. The industry needs modern and hygienic slaughter houses that can meet international standards for export of chilled or frozen red meat to countries where demand for halal meat is growing.

Pakistan is ranked 19th in terms of meat production with an annual output of 2.2 million tons. In the three-trillion-dollar halal product industry of the world, the meat segment is worth $600 billion. Pakistan’s share in it is only $115 million.

Meat exporters believe that this figure can be tripled with the right policies.

“The industry is in its initial stages in Pakistan, with literally 0% contribution to the global industry, we need relaxation in taxes, less interference from provincial departments and a clear policy to boost the industry,” said Nasib Ahmad Saifi, Chief Executive Officer of Anis Associates, a sister concern of Saifi Group, while talking to The Express Tribune.

The group is one of the largest exporters of meat in Punjab, whose export revenues have crossed $15 million annually.

“Rising tax rates, zero rebate, high freight charges and above all energy crisis are hitting us hard, otherwise our company has the potential to at least triple its export volume,” Saifi said.

He believed that total meat exports of the country could reach $500 million if the government started taking interest in this industry. Citing the example of India, he claimed that the neighbouring country, which is not even an Islamic state, was exporting halal meat worth $23 billion annually just by properly organising the industry.

He highlighted smuggling of live animals to Afghanistan and Iran as another problem that has been hitting the livestock market.

According to Pamco, around 2.5 million live animals worth $1.4 billion are smuggled every year, dealing a damaging blow not only to domestic meat sales, but also to exports.

Saifi stressed that if smuggling was brought under control, the export of red meat would grow and prices would also come down in the country.

This will also provide a boost to the local leather and tannin industry which will have access to high quality hides at lower cost. In fact it has been a long-standing demand of the local leather industry to limit livestock exports and to promote meat exports.

Source: Tribune