Breaking down halal red meat in new ways

The export of halal certified red meat has become an integral part of the success of the Australian processing and export sector with the Islamic Council of Victoria estimating that In 2021, Australia shipped around $2.36 billion worth of Halal certified meat products to the world.

The many markets of the Middle East have always been the core of the halal certified trade for both beef and sheepmeat going back to the 1970s. Over the past two decades however, growth in beef markets like Indonesia and Malaysia as well as the growth in international Islamic communities in countries as diverse as the United States, Europe and even Japan has meant that most processors cannot ignore the importance of markets requiring halal certification.

Today nearly all export sheepmeat processors have a halal certification program as do an increasing number of export beef plants.

Halal markets have played a key role in driving the record sheepmeat exports currently being achieved, in particular the Arabian Gulf countries like the United Arab Emirates (Dubai and Abu Dhabi), Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

While markets like Iran began as a major destination for live sheep in the 1970s, the recent growth in chilled and frozen sheepmeat and beef exports to the country has been significant.

In just the four months to April this year, Iran has taken over 9269 tonnes of chilled and frozen sheepmeat and 112 tonnes of chilled beef.

Experienced traders to the region suggest there is further potential still to be realised there if the logistics are in place for both airfreight and seafreight.

As a non-Muslim country, the integrity of Australia's halal slaughter and product segregation system comes under greater scrutiny than might otherwise be the case.

Australia, however, is the only non-Muslim country world wide where the government underpins the integrity of the system through a government-supervised system.

The system's integrity is central to the success of the sector and there is constant investment and review taking place to ensure that integrity is maintained. This can be complicated by differing interpretations of halal between countries which can make meeting individual country halal requirements more complex.

Communicating the principles behind the Australian system and in a form that modern and younger consumers better understand has needed to include communications adapted for use on social media.

The latest work by AMIC was funded through a Federal Government Australian Trade and Market Access Cooperation grant and has resulted in a new range of contemporary materials and resources that are available for use by all industry organisations and stakeholders in the halal meat supply chain.

Meat & Livestock Australia and its predecessors have for the past 40 years produced a range of materials in support of the Australian system.

As the importance and the complexity of the sector has evolved, the commercial experience of the processing and export sector has been an essential ingredient in fine tuning the message so that it meets increasingly diverse customer requirements.

Changes in communication platforms, in particular social media, has also required a rethink of the material to meet modern customer expectations.

As part of the AMIC project, they engaged a digital production company to update existing communication resources to move away from the technical approach of the past towards a more commercial and consumer focus.

These newly created resources are in three languages (Arabic, English and Bahasa) and have been designed to be used across any medium both online and offline and for use where appropriate by halal certifiers in Australia.

AMIC sees these as valuable resources that can be shared with international customers and stakeholders to promote the Australian Government Authorised Halal Program and build greater understanding of Australian halal systems more generally.

Good weather, a full slaughter week and pent up supply tensions saw weekly cattle slaughter levels rise to the highest this year at 138,000 head for the week ending May 17, about 16 per cent higher than the same week last year.

Informed analysts suggest there is still some processing capacity not in use but the real limitation remains the availability of labour. While these levels of slaughter can be achieved with favourable weather, good logistics and some overtime and weekend kills, the question will remain whether they represent just occasional peaks rather than achievable consistent levels each week as we move into winter.

A slightly stronger Australian dollar will add some caution to processor demand. A concern remains that if early frosts and winter culls continue to increase the supply of slaughter- ready cattle, it will pressure prices. If the season was to turn dry, any supply demand imbalance could lead to oversupply and further downward pressure.

For the moment cattle prices remain mixed with younger animals seemingly over-performing relative to the finished end of the market.

Processor grids were reported as steady with competition for livestock reported as strongest in southern Queensland with processors from south of the border still active there.

MLA's processor cow indicator came off slightly as the US market took a breather.

Lamb slaughter for the week ending May 17 was the highest on record maintaining the current trend of record lamb production and exports.