Value of halal meat

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Fresh meat sales are increasing in the UAE as people turn away from processed frozen products.

At first glance, the average Australian cattle farm would appear to have little connection with the Middle East. But for a growing number of Australasian meat producers, countries in the Middle East are fast becoming major export markets. Fletcher International Exports, a meat producer based in the Australian state of New South Wales, is just one example.

The company has been exporting its certified halal meat to the Middle East for some 30 years, and has noticed a rapid increase in demand in recent years. "In that time we have grown to have Australia's largest halal processing operation for sheep and lamb meat," said Graham Lyon, Fletcher's marketing manager for Middle East and Africa.

"We have two abattoirs and we are now processing both frozen and chilled meat for the retail market and wholesale markets in the Middle East. Growth has been strong, and interest has been strong right across all sectors."

Lyon highlights the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and Libya as particularly strong markets in the region, although Fletcher is also supplying other countries such as Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.

Fletcher supplies meat to the retail and foodservice sectors, and while demand from the foodservice sector is mainly for frozen meat, the retail sector has a far greater appetite for fresh products. "For the retail sector, demand is almost all for chilled meat, and that is where we the growth is," Lyon said.

"At the top-end we are seeing growth in the amount of supermarkets that are being built and expanded in the region - not only the UAE but also Saudi Arabia and Qatar...and that seems to be resulting in some growth in our frozen lamb business."

While Lyon admits that the food service sector currently accounts for 70% of business in the Middle East, he expects the proportion of business in the retail sector to increase, as the region's modern trade develops. "We predict that retail is starting to make some inroads into that ratio, just by the amount of supermarkets on the ground now and the demand that we've seen in the past 12 months," he said.

The rising demand is down to the economic growth and growing population in the region. "The reason for growth is the growth of infrastructure and revenue from exports of these countries," Lyon said. "Countries have major plans for infrastructure growth and that suits us down to the ground in terms of meat production."

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