Malaysia Veterinary Forum (Archive)

Dr. TanDY

Found this article from The Star

Tuesday February 14, 2006

The Star wrote:
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian consumers are paying almost double for Indian beef now as a cartel monopolising the trade is dictating the export price.

The retail price of Indian beef has swelled from RM6.50 per kilo a year ago to between RM9 and RM10 per kilo now, depending on the cut.

Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said his ministry was aware of the cartel, which was under the control of one of the four Indian exporters of beef to Malaysia.

“We are looking at ways to reduce the monopoly. One way is to open the market and allow more foreign abattoirs to supply beef to Malaysia.

“If more abattoirs supply beef to the country, the price will be more competitive. This can help bring down current prices,” he told The Star yesterday.

Muhyiddin, however, said that only abattoirs that supplied halal meat would be allowed to export their products here.

He said the authorities were looking at several countries to supply beef to Malaysia, but declined to name them.

It is learnt that Pakistan and Bangladesh were among the countries being considered.

Malaysia now depends on India for 90% of its beef supply, with the rest sourced from South America and China.

The country imports about 6,000 tonnes of beef from India monthly.

A Veterinary Services Department source said the increase in Indian beef prices began last year when the authorities in India reduced the number of slaughterhouses from six to four.

“Taking advantage of the situation, the exporters started to dictate the prices of beef. Importers have no choice but to buy at high prices to avoid a shortage,” said the source.

The source said the price of Indian beef further escalated six months ago, when New Zealand and Australian abattoirs were barred from exporting their products to Malaysia for failing to meet halal standards.

Malaysian importers are only allowed to source for beef from certified slaughterhouses.

Indian beef is actually buffalo meat. It is popular among locals and cheaper compared with other imported beef or local beef, sold at between RM16 and RM18 a kg.

Muhyiddin said he would hold talks with the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry to regulate the price of Indian beef.

“If the price continue to rise further, the Price Control Act may be invoked.”

Importers are paying about US$10mil (RM37mil) for the imports compared with US$6.3mil (RM23.3mil) before the price increase.

Dr csh · Joined: 21 Jan 2006 Posts: 425

I do not believe it is a bad thing for local beef producers if the price of beef, or should I say buffalo meat is increased. This should be an incentive for local producers to increase the production of beef both in terms of quality and quantity to reduce our dependency on foreign beef. Indirectly, the rural community will benefit and hopefully with this windfall, will spur development and progress in local beef production while improving GDP and rural development.