The country’s meat products are expanding into unexplored territory as new countries are buying Ethiopian. According to information obtained from the Meat and Dairy Development Institution under the Ministry of Agriculture, Iran has agreed to buy 10,000 tons of cattle, sheep and goat meat from Ethiopia. Iran has not imported Ethiopian meat before.

Gedey Gebre Medhin, director of the institute, said that Iran’s demand is almost above the country’s total exports from last year.

The growing industry is closely followed by the Export Coordinator Committee, chaired by PM Meles Zenawi, and is also attracting markets from other countries as well as investors who want to buy and be part of the investment in the country.

Gedey told Capital that Lebanon is another new import destiny for Ethiopian meat. He said that the Lebanon delegation will arrive in Addis Ababa this week to sign the final arrangement to start the export. According to the agreement the country will import the largest amount to Iran.

The director explained that Lebanese will not only supply the product to the Lebanon market but for other marketplaces like Iraq, Jordan and Syria.

When Ethiopia commences the export for the two countries it will be one of the largest meat exporter countries which previously was dominated by Pakistan, Australia and Latin American countries.

Turkey will become another buyer of Ethiopian meat. Currently Turkish importers have been in discussions with Ethiopia on getting a final deal.

Ethiopian abattoirs and other hygienic and veterinary services standards improvement are the main reason for the attraction of new international markets, the experts explained.

Ethiopia mainly exports sheep and goat meat, for the Gulf countries. Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Yemen and Bahrain are the major importers.
In the first half of the budget year Ethiopia exported close to 8100 tons of meat. Only 7 percent came from cattle.

According to the head, the country is attentively working to expand cattle meat exports that cover 80 percent of global demand.

About seven local companies are exporting meat, while most of them are focused on sheep and goat meat exporting.

Currently, only Abergele, an abattoir under EFFORT that is based in Mekele, has fully undertaken cattle meat processing and Ashrafe, formed at Bahir Dar, is in the final stage to commence cattle slaughtering and export.

“We are supporting the rest to enhance their capacity and begin exporting cattle meat,” Gedey said.

According to the expert, the sector investment has shown more rapid growth than previously.

“Currently new abattoirs are erecting or on the process to start their production,” he explained.

A Canadian and Ethiopia joint venture investment that demanded to enter in the abattoir and meat export has started its investment activity in Jijiga, capital of Somali regional state, which is one of the potential livestock production areas in the country, while it is major line for contraband in the sector. And the popular Indian firm Alana is in process to be part of the investment export from Ethiopia.

The institute, which was established three years ago under the ministry, is mainly concerned about encouraging meat and dairy production and export. It is closely working with abattoirs to advance their standard and production quality, based on international standards, and to boost the sector export so as to break into the European market. In addition the institution that is based in Debrezeit is undertaking market analyses for investors and has a plan to setup international level model abattoirs and dairy processing centers for dual purposes; to train professionals and to provide service.

In addition the government is evaluating conditions to commence frozen meat freight on ships which are more preferable for cattle and meat export than air cargo. Frozen meat is able to stay for 18 months and economical for export.

On average the price of Ethiopian meat is about 4 dollars per kilogram, which is a lower price than other exporter countries. According to the price estimation Iran will buy 40 million dollars worth of meat from Ethiopia.

“We should work to improve the production and related quality issues to get a better price on the international market,” the head said.
Ethiopia has one of the largest livestock populations on the African continent. However there has been little growth in the sector recently.

CapitalEthiopia