Pakistani company secures $1 million contract to export frozen meat to Saudi Arabia

This photograph taken on April 9, 2015, shows Pakistani health inspectors as they certify meat by placing stamps at a government slaughterhouse in Lahore. (AFP)

• Organic Meat Company will supply 250 metric tons of boneless deglanded meat to Global Developing Food Industries Company in Saudi Arabia
• Becomes first Pakistani company to get approval from Saudi Food & Drug Authority to export frozen meat via sea to kingdom 

KARACHI: A Karachi-based halal meat processing and export company has secured a $1 million contract to supply frozen boneless meat to Saudi Arabia for a period of 10 months, the firm said.
According to international market research company, IMARC, the global halal food market, which also includes beverages and products other than meat, was valued at $1.9 trillion last year. Pakistan ranks in the top twenty countries in global halal meat exports and a 2017 study by the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) showed the industry was growing 27 percent annually.
Pakistan’s exports of meat and meat preparations went up by 10 percent in the last fiscal year to $334 million, though they declined by four percent during the first two months of the current fiscal year to $49.55 million, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
“TOMCL has been contracted to supply frozen boneless deglanded meat to Global Developing Food Industries Company, Saudi Arabia, which is another successful food processing company in the Middle East,” the Karachi-based Organic Meat Company Limited said in a notice posted to the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Monday, adding that the company would transport 25 metric tons to Dammam via sea on a monthly basis.
“This contract execution gives a pathway for positive impact on our company’s business and value for its shareholders,” the notice said.
The Pakistani company is also the first and only organization from Pakistan that has been approved by the Saudi Food & Drug Authority (SFDA) to export frozen meat via sea to Saudi Arabia. Its facilities are also approved to supply products to Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Maldives, Hong Kong and Vietnam.
Last December, the company won a high-value contract of $3.9 million to export 100 metric tons of frozen boneless meat to Saudi Arabia. It was also listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) in 2020 and was valued at over Rs4 billion, according to the data posted on the PSX website.
The share value of the company on Tuesday increased by 6.98 percent to close at Rs37.86 per share, following the announcement of the contract with the Saudi firm.