20000316

High quarantine feehampers animalsexport to Gulf

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: High quarantine fee on export of live sheep and goats prevented the country from a lucrative chance of export of animals to the Gulf on the eve of Eid-ul-Azha, say meat exporters. The quarantine fee in Pakistan is Rs. 500 per animal whereas in India the fee is Rs. 10.

Tariq Mahmood Butt, a leading meat exporter, told Business Recorder that while India earned millions of dollars from export of live animals to the Gulf during the Eid-ul-Azha season, Pakistani exporters were at a loss despite substantial orders for the export of live animals. According to a cautious estimate, Pakistan could have exported about 24,000 animals provided the quarantine fee had been reduced by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

He said that his firm P.K. Livestock had made elaborate arrangements to make export of live animals to the Gulf because of high demand there. It had arranged in collaboration with an Australian firm a special animal carrier M.V. Polax Express which had a capacity of 18000 sheep. However, when the exporter contacted the Ministry for reducing the quarantine fees to a reasonable level so as to make the exports feasible, it refused depriving the country from a good chance of earning about three million dollars from export in just two weeks.

The P.K. Livestock earned about $5 million from export of meat in the last eight months. However, after Ramazan and before Eid-ul-Azha the export of meat showed down and the buyers placed orders for the export of animals.

Tariq pointed out that nowhere in the world the quarantine fee is more than a dollar and it is high time that the Ministry of Food and Agriculture reduced the fee to Rs. 50 per animal so that export of meat and animals could increase. Earlier the quarantine fee in the country was Rs. 50 per animal which was raised to Rs. 500 by the Ministry about a year ago.

He appealed to the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Production Abdul Razzak Dawood to take up the matter with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to remove the bottlenecks in the export of a non-traditional item.