POULTRY products offer a huge potential for exports, which remains virtually unrealised.

In fact, penetrating deeper into global Halal market can boost dollar earnings form poultry products in a much shorter time than is required for other non-traditional items.

A large segment of Pakistan’s poultry industry is well-organised and has achieved international efficiency levels and some leading poultry farmers of Punjab and Sindh have been breeding quality poultry birds.

Some companies engaged in poultry exports now meet all international standards and a few others primarily involved in red meat exports have the capacity to diversify into poultry exports. The Middle Eastern countries lifted a long-drawn ban on imports of Pakistani poultry back in 2008 but little efforts have been made to boost its exports there as exporters could not meet these countries’ revised criteria for imports.

Sikandar Hayat Bosan, federal minister for national food security and research says it is time to establish a National Halal Authority that can serve as a single facilitation and certification point for all those who want to tap international markets for Halal products.

Poultry exporters say the establishment of the proposed authority should help them re-explore GCC markets aggressively.

PPA officials say there is a need to recognise the potential of poultry exports and formulate a policy package to realise it, without which initiatives of individual companies cannot produce the desired results

At a recent conference in Lahore, Mr Bosan said the authority could be set up once the Council of Common Interest, comprising representatives of all provinces, approved this idea. The Punjab Halal Development Authority and the USAID had organised this conference where the two organisations also signed an MOU to promote investment in Halal meat industry.

By end of 2010, about 20 trading companies, primarily engaged in exports of grains and red meat, also occasionally exported poultry birds and poultry products. Now the number of such companies has risen past 70, industry sources say, but they are least active in poultry exports. The main obstacle is absence of a centralised certification system, they say.

Individual poultry meat processing companies like K&Ns, and Season’s Menu keep exporting poultry meat products to a number of countries but “for trading companies securing foreign buying orders is difficult due to issues in third-party certification, branding and supplies,” says owner of a Karachi-based trading company engaged in red meat exports. “Output of branded processed poultry meat in Pakistan is too low to meet local demand. So, the processing companies’ main focus is on expanding footprints in local market. Most of them don’t produce exportable surplus though, at times, one or two engage in exports.”

Estimates of export earnings from poultry and poultry products vary. According to the SBP statistics, such earnings totalled less than $5m in FY13, poultry industry sources say the figure was far higher. But even if export earnings are higher, these are not large enough to show that export potential of poultry and poultry products are being exploited seriously.

Industry sources say live chicken are exported chiefly to the UAE, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Sri Lanka, Oman and Turkey adding that efforts are now being made to explore Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti markets as well. They say that poultry products are also exported primarily to the UAE, Afghanistan, China, Thailand, Malaysia, but occasionally also to Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

“We expect a breakthrough in Saudi Arabia,” says owner of a Karachi-based exporter of beef and mutton to that country referring to the recent lobbying by Pakistan Poultry Association for seeking government’s support in exploring Saudi markets for poultry meat.

Former PPA Chairman Abdul Basit says Saudi Arabia imports a little less than 900,000 tonnes of chicken meat every year mainly from Brazil, France and the US adding that Pakistan being a Muslim country stands a better chance for penetrating into this market “if Saudis can get assurance that poultry meat exported by us would meet their standards.”

Industry sources say that consistent growth in production of poultry meat over last 5-6 years has brightened the scope of exports but persistent power-breakdowns continue to keep the production costs high. From 600m tonnes in FY08, output of poultry meat is estimated to have touched 1m tonnes mark in FY14. Similarly, eggs production has increased from 10.7bn to 14bn during these six years.

They say that exports of eggs alone can bring in substantial foreign exchange but that is not possible in the absence of egg powder or spray drying unit which, according to a report of Sindh Board of Investment, can be set up with just $1m with a guaranteed payback period of two years. However, our local investors are not ready to make this investment.

PPA officials say there is a need to recognise the potential of poultry exports and formulate a policy package to realise it without which, initiatives of individual companies cannot produce the desired results.

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, March 23rd , 2015

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