Baku, Azerbaijan, March 27
By Fikret Dolukhanov – Trend:
Germany, the UAE and China are priority markets for export of meat production from the Central Asian countries, the research of the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) said.
According to the research, dedicated to simplification of trade in the Central Asian region, special attention must be paid to the halal production (Halal food used to denote permissible food and drinks according to traditional Islamic law).
GIZ in its research noted that agriculture is still the most important sphere for the Central Asian countries: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan considerably depend on the agriculture, whereas Kazakhstan mainly accentuates on grain and meat production.
“International trade of meat production is quite unstable in Central Asia. Considerable export volumes exist only in Kazakhstan. The other three Central Asian countries are mainly focused on fruit and vegetable production,” GIZ said.
According to the report, Germany, the UAE and China are the most priority markets for the meat export. In 2016, the three countries imported $2.83 million, $698.000 and $3 million USD worth of meat products correspondingly.
“Mutton import in Germany is a very interesting opportunity for the Central Asian Suppliers. The UAE is largely dependent on international agricultural import due to small volume of internal production. China, on its part, creates good conditions for beef and mutton import, paying special attention to high-quality and ecological products,” the report said.
According to the GIZ experts, halal mutton export must be a key sphere for the Central Asian suppliers.
“While the UAE is obviously a favorable market for halal meat, Germany and China also experience growth of demand on halal production due to large number of immigrant preferring to eat halal food,” GIZ wrote.
GIZ noted that Uzbekistan’s agriculture is mainly focused on production of fruit, whereas the meat production is consumed only on internal market.
“Uzbekistan is mostly a meat-importing country and follows the same dynamics with its neighbors in regard to international beef, mutton and sausage trade,” the report said.
“Uzbekistan, along with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan shows a negative balance of foreign trade in the mentioned spheres. Due to the large population and its constant growth, the meat production is mainly consumed on the internal market,” GIZ said.