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As an effort to strengthen trade ties with India, Australia is now exporting its lamb to the subcontinent following an agreement on food safety requirements finalisation last year.
According to latest media reports here today, small quantities of frozen and chilled lamb were permitted into India since the agreement.
Initially, the meat will be seen only in high-end hotels and restaurants but, with India’s population of more than 1.2 billion people including a growing middle-class estimated at about 170 million, the market is seen to have great potential, the report said.
“There is very heavy demand for Australian lamb in India,” Trade Minister Craig Emmerson was quoted by the report as saying.
“The trade is in its infancy but importers are scrambling to get their hands on consignments. Australian lamb would appeal to India’s growing middle-class as a superior product to what was available locally,” Emerson said.
“It will be premium quality, higher priced lamb,” he said.
“Our advantage will never be on price — it will be on quality.”
Emmerson said the breakthrough had come when Indian authorities agreed to recognise Australia’s own system of licensing abbatoirs rather than sending out their own inspectors, a long and expensive process.
Chief executive of Sheepmeat Council of Australia, Ron Cullen, said while the deal was good news for farmers, a lot of work was still needed to establish markets and supply chains.
“No one is going to rush over there with a boatload of meat and stand on a corner to sell it,” he said.
“But there is an emerging middle-class in India and they have a desire for red meat. We haven’t had access to that market so we see it as potentially a very good opportunity.”
The new move under which Australian lamb will be allowed into India free of quotas based on Australia’s compliance with India’s food regulations has been hailed by the Australian sheep Industry.
Sheep Industry Leadership Council chairman Rob Egerton-Warburton welcomed open access to the potentially huge Indian market but warned it would take time for producers to see the benefits.
“It’s a big win for WA because of our proximity to India and because we are predominantly an export industry with 80 per cent of sheep meat sent overseas,” Egerton-Warburton said, adding “We produce excellent quality sheep meat products as well and the Asian market is very discerning.”
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