LAHORE - Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Standing Committee on Halal Food Chairman Nasib Ahmad Saifi has urged the government not to allow setting up of more slaughterhouses in the country rather focus on smooth and profitable running of existing abattoirs. ‘We have over 30 slaughterhouses in the country and more are in pipelines.
Total slaughtering and processing capacity of existing abattoirs is roughly around 25,000 tons per day but because of critically high prices of livestock and falling prices of Halal meat in international market, these are working just around 40 to 45 per cent of their capacities and consequently suffering heavy losses,
He was of the view that the government should focus on the Halal food especially of Halal meat export sector.
Global per annum transaction of Halal food trade is $700 trillion and Pakistan’s share in it is very negligible despite being an Islamic country, Saifi regretted and added that surprisingly non-Islamic countries are taking more advantage of this trade.