Further information on red meat in the Middle East :
The Australian red meat industry is committed to supplying safe, healthy and delicious red meat products to the Middle East. For this reason the company and its predecessors have maintained an office in the region for over 30 years.
The current regional office is based in Manama, Bahrain. From here, market access and development activities for red meat and livestock exports are conducted for the Middle East and African region.
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Halal
Islamic consumers place paramount importance on the religious requirements for the production of food. For this reason all cattle, sheep and goats processed in Australia destined for the Middle East market are slaughtered under the Australian Government Supervised Halal program, by Muslims approved by accredited Islamic certifying authorities in accredited processing plants, according to strict Islamic law or Shariah. This program is guaranteed under the Australian law, and administered by Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS).
The Australian meat industry has adopted strict procedures to ensure only certified Halal meat products are available for export. This is why we say our red meat is ‘Guaranteed Halal’.
It is one of MLA’s roles in the Middle East to promote Australia’s Halal program to ensure that governments, religious leaders and consumers are confident that Australian red meat is ‘Guaranteed Halal’, for this reason the Australian Halal Marketing Brand logo is placed on promotional material and other supporting material to relay this message.
Product specifications
The Middle East markets have a preference for carcases in the 10 to 16kg (cw) range because of a perception that the smaller the lamb, the younger the animal. The local sheep breeds produce light and lean lamb carcases many with the characteristic "fat tail", that are considered to be the highest quality and subsequently receive the highest prices in the market.
Sheepmeat exports to the Middle East have historically been in the form of frozen carcases. With improvements in technology the market has expanded to include large volumes of chilled lamb cuts and carcases for both the growing food service and retail sectors.
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Market access
Maintaining market access is a key role of MLA in the Middle East. Because countries in the region import the majority of their food, governments place a very high importance on food safety and have stringent requirements that exporting countries must meet to ensure their products are safe.
MLA is continually monitoring market access issues and works collaboratively with key government officials in the Middle East. Australia’s very low disease prevalence and strict food safety standards means our red meat products are highly sought after in the region.
Market development
Building and maintaining networks are key steps in ensuring supply of Australian products to markets in the region. From its office in Bahrain, MLA provides technical support through product training, communication and cooperative promotional programs with key importers, retailers and foodservice operators of Australian lamb, mutton and beef. MLA works with suppliers in Australia to continually improve and deliver our competitive advantage within the market.
The region is currently experiencing unparallel growth in the foodservice sector due to increased investment in tourism demonstrated by double-digit growth in the number of hotels over the past five years. MLA is working with Australian exporters to capture market share in the evolving foodservice channel; current activities include public relations campaigns and trade marketing initiatives including the MLA Black Box Culinary Challenge
The rapid expansion of international retailers across the region is changing the traditional retail landscape and creating opportunities to expand the retail presence of Australian red meat products. A range of activities with targeted retailers based on category management principles are underway. These activities including staff training, food sampling, point of sale material and print media advertising to maintain and increase consumer awareness and purchasing intent for Australian lamb.
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Middle East – a wealth of opportunities
From exporting mutton to feed construction workers building tomorrow’s cities, to serving up long-fed beef to the wealthy diners in high-end hotels, the extremes of the Middle East marketplace offer an extensive range of opportunities for the Australian red meat industry. The Middle East market is Australia's largest live sheep and sheepmeat destination. Our chilled and frozen mutton, lamb and beef products have established a market leading position, underpinned by confidence in our exporters’ capability, our reputation for food safety, our halal branding and the work of MLA staff in the region.
For the financial year 2007-2008, Australia’s lamb sales increased 18% from 20,122mt to 23,743mt and beef increased 130% from 3,356mt to 7,718mt. The region maintained its position as our premier mutton market, up 3%, from 50,500mt to 52,188mt. In 2007, the UAE emerged as Australia’s second largest lamb market after the US. The greatest increases in volumes sold for all species was in the UAE.
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