AFTER making a modest start in 1996, PK Livestock Company — a pioneer in meat exports — has grown to a level where its current foreign sales stand at over $80m per annum.

The robust growth over the next nine years led to setting up of a sister concern — PK Food — in 2000. It is engaged in value-addition of meat or ‘ready to cook’ meat products that are available on shelves in supermarkets and shopping malls across the country.

Earlier in 1996, the PK Livestock Company imported livestock from Australia, including around 84,000 sheep, cows and lambs.

However, the company soon realised that this venture was not viable as Pakistan had a large population of livestock and poultry, and that it did not need imported livestock.

The enhanced capacity of PK Livestock’s abattoir, imported from Australia for $5m and paid through the owner’s overseas companies, can slaughter 35 large animals and 280 small animals per hour

Nevertheless, this venture enabled it to set-up a mechanised abattoir facility at Razzaqabad, near National Highway in the suburbs of Karachi.

The Trade Policy 1998 allowed meat exports, which turned out to be a boon for PK Livestock, which was then running a state of the art abattoir. Thus the company virtually enjoyed a monopoly over meat exports to the Middle East for a long time.

In order to meet the growing foreign demand of meat, the company not only enhanced the capacity of its abattoir by installing a new plant, but had also set up a meat processing plant (value addition) to produce frozen meat products under the brand name of PK Food.

Tariq Mahmood Butt, the chief executive and the owner of these companies, while talking to this writer in his factory office, recalled how Dawn had flashed the news about the arrival of a carrier from Australia loaded with 84,000 cattle heads way back in 1996.

The company, soon after getting its consignment of livestock, exported the first-ever batch of meat to Oman the very next month (May 1996) under a special permit. This is how his company pioneered in meat exports, and is now providing jobs to around 700 workers in the suburb of Karachi.

Mr Butt disclosed that initially his company exported meat to a local company – Al-Batna Livestock, Muscat (Oman). However, in subsequent years he also purchased this company and now PK exports chilled meat to its own sister concern in Muscat.

PK Livestock has become one of the largest exporters of customised quality Halal chilled mutton and beef to the Gulf region, including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iran.

Responding to a question, he said the company is approved by all the Gulf Cooperation Council member countries for import of chilled meat (beef and mutton) as well as ready-to-cook meat and chicken products.

However, following imposition of sanctions on Iran by the West, the company lost a big market, as its exports were to the tune of $60-70m during the three years prior to the sanctions, Butt said. Despite the loss of the Iranian market, the company’s exports to GCC countries are to the tune of $80m per annum.

Pakistani meat is in great demand in the Middle East for its quality and taste, but exporters have to meet world class standards and specification with regards to sanitation, hygiene and packaging for off-the-shelf sales, he added.

Meat processing, starting from storage to transportation, needs to take place at specified temperatures to maintain the quality. The company has all modern facilities, including chiller storage and chiller trucks for transportation of meat and meat products to airports or retail outlets.

Butt revealed that he had made foreign direct investment from his overseas concerns of $15m to set up the PK Food unit in 2000. This unit has state of the art imported machinery from the US and Germany to meet world class specifications and certifications.

The enhanced capacity of the abattoir — the new plant was imported from Australia at $5m and paid through his overseas companies — can slaughter 35 large animals (cow and buffalo) and 280 small animals (goat and sheep) per hour.

KP Food will start exporting value-added meat products to Dubai soon after Eidul Azha. The company has recently signed a contract with a Dubai-based company.

For producing quality meat products, advanced technology and machinery is important, but equally necessary is the human capital, and the combination of these two inputs produces the required result.

During a visit to the abattoir and food processing unit, it was observed that equipment, floors and walls were constantly being washed. Tariq Mahmood Butt said all the washing and sterilisation is being done with imported food-grade chemicals.

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, October 13th, 2014