Pakistan gains access to Jordanian meat market

Pakistan is tapping into the Jordanian meat market, and three slaughterhouses have already received permission to export meat from cattle, camels, sheep and goats to Amman. Over the past few years, Jordan has continuously imported about 150,000 tons of halal meat worth $464 million.

According to the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Pakistan's total meat production in 2019-2020 was 4,708 tons. Of these, 2,303 tons of beef, 748 tons of lamb and 1,657 tons of poultry. Pakistani meat exporters face intense competition in the halal meat market from other countries such as India, Brazil, Australia and Africa. However, the country wants to focus on the export of camel meat.

"Pakistan has recently become the largest exporter of camel meat in the world," said Ismail Suttar, President of the Employers' Federation of Pakistan. The global halal meat market is projected to reach $3.2 trillion by 2024. However, the main exporters in this market are Brazil, Australia and India. “No Muslim country is in the top five global exporters of halal products,” said Ahmad Jawad, former chairman of the agriculture committee of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

The main importers of halal meat are Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and Egypt.