halalfocus.net » Oceania

UAE-NZ ties growing

salama — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:55:30 +0000

31 January 2012 DUBAI – Trade between the UAE and New Zealand is expected to continue its significant growth, according to New Zealand Consul-General in Dubai Steve Jones.

Trade figures show New Zealand exports to the GCC have grown from $695 million in 2009 to $1.2 billion in 2011 that shows a 71 per cent increase over the two-year period.

Dubai’s attraction to more tourists will increase demand for food and beverage products and it will provide opportunities to New Zealand companies to boost exports, Jones, who is also trade commissioner for Middle East and Africa, told Khaleej Times in Dubai late on Sunday.

As the Dubai tourism market grows, demand for fine products will go up in parallel and New Zealand will be able to supply more products for tourism and hospitality sector in Dubai, he said.

“We would still be expected significant growth annual growth over the next couple of years,” Jones said, adding that UAE exports to New Zealand have also increased in the last couple of year, mostly petrochemicals.

Exports to the region are mostly dairy products where New Zealand companies have expertise at international level. It’s one of the biggest sectors for exports, he added.

“While New Zealand is well known as a food and beverage exporter, increasingly our exports to the Gulf region are diversifying away from just food and beverages to include ICT, education and consultancy, and specialised manufacturing,” he said.

He mentioned that 85 companies are working in the UAE and more new companies are expected to establish base in the UAE this year. He lists a number of companies which have made business impact in the region in the last year. These include weather forecasting and digital media company Metra, health technology company Winscribe, security systems firm Gallagher, and specialist composite construction engineering company Pultron Composites.

While trade ties are strengthened by New Zealand-based companies expanding into the region, there is also a clear government-level commitment to the region — with the opening of a New Zealand Embassy in the UAE, and joint New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise visits to Oman and Qatar. “New Zealand and the UAE have had an excellent economic and trade relationship for so many years now and the establishment of our embassy in Abu Dhabi underscores the fact that we are looking at further growing that relationship with the UAE across all sectors of society,” Malcolm Millar, Ambassador of New Zealand to the UAE, said.

“It is indeed noteworthy that our trade relations with this nation have witnessed tremendous growth and we are confident that those figures will keep an upward trajectory in the coming years.”

NZTE’s Beachheads programme — a global, public-private partnership of independent advisors and NZTE staff working closely with high-growth New Zealand businesses looking to succeed internationally — has helped an increasing number of growing businesses gain a foothold in the Middle East.

“Beachheads is a very successful programme worldwide, and we are planning to expand the service in the Middle East. It is most relevant to New Zealand companies with a permanent presence and senior management based in the region, and those planning for growth,” Jones said.

abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com

New Zealand: Malaysia beef trade starts to recover

salama — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:38:40 +0000

The beef trade to one of New Zealand’s important Muslim markets, Malaysia, is starting to recover after being largely blocked for six years.

Malaysian religious authorities delisted New Zealand beef processing plants in 2005 after deciding that their halal slaughtering practices didn’t comply with their requirements.

But the Ministry of Agriculture (MAF) says the trade is gaining momentum again with 14 plants now approved to process beef as well as sheepmeat for Malaysia, under a new halal certification agreement.

MAF chief market access officer Tony Zohrab says it’s taken years of negotiation between New Zealand and Malaysian officials and industry representatives to get new halal export standards in place.

He says an essential part of it is government involvement in overseeing the standards.

Mr Zohrab says the key components in that export standard were official approval of halal certification bodies in New Zealand, and competency standards for personnel conducting halal slaughter of animals and for people performing certification and auditing for halal.

Also needed were quality systems specific for halal within each establishment that wanted to produce halal meat for any export market and the establishment of a Halal Advisory Group to advise MAF.

Meat Industry Association chief executive Tim Ritchie says having 14 plants cleared to process meat for Malaysia again represents good progress in getting the trade re-established.

Though it is still fewer than the 41 plants that listed in 2005, good process has been made, he says, and another tranche of plants should be audited this year.

Mr Ritchie says in 2004 the beef trade was up to 8000 tonnes, but in the last 12 months that was only 1600 metric tonnes.

Radio New Zealand

New Zealand: $3 trillion industry challenges New Zealand firms

salama — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 08:53:56 +0000

By Indian Newslink

The New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) has identified Halal as an emerging global trend that holds great promise particularly for New Zealand’s food and beverage as well as cosmetics and beauty products.

NZTE recommends companies stay up to date with this rapidly changing global market said to be worth $2.95 trillion. Food products comprise 61% pharmaceutical products 26% and cosmetics 11%.

At the World Halal Forum held in Kuala Lumpur in 2011, there was a strong emphasis on the convergence of the Halal goods and services industry and the Islamic finance into an integrated Halal economy.

The potential Muslim market is huge and growing.

Islam is the second largest religion worldwide, with 1.57 billion followers or 23% of the global population. Many of the world’s Muslims live in rapidly growing emerging markets such as Indonesia and India.

Halal Certification

There is no international consensus on Halal standards and certification.

The International Halal Integrity Alliance (IHIA) was set up in 2007 to work with industry, governments, research institutions and other organisations to develop an internationally recognised standard.

Ten modules that make up the standard are under various stages of development including topics such as food service, logistics, animal welfare and animal slaughter and processing.

Once the standard is complete, the IHIA will seek endorsement by the Organisation of Islamic States.

Discussions are still underway to get this standard approved.

In the meantime, supervision of Halal Certification is often carried out by religious bodies in each market and represents that country’s individual expression of Islamic beliefs.

As such, getting agreement between countries on a global Halal standard has been very difficult.

In New Zealand, the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) has oversight of companies exporting Halal meat products.

New legislation

In November last year, the Ministry released the ‘Animal Products (Overseas Market Access Requirements for Halal Assurance) Amendment Notice 2010.

MAF also certifies approved Halal organisations in New Zealand who offer assessment, approval and certification services, with the approval of the importing country.

New Zealand and Malaysia signed a new Halal meat arrangement in December 2010 negotiated between MAF (formerly the NZ Food Safety Authority) and Malaysia’s Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) and Malaysia’s Department of Islamic Development (JAKIM).

This provides a framework to reconcile Malaysia’s Halal laws with New Zealand’s animal welfare requirements, including that all Halal meat products in New Zealand are derived from animals stunned prior to slaughter.

A unified Halal standard across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates may be eventually developed.

Halal finance

Another opportunity for New Zealand companies in the Middle East is the growth in Islamic finance.

The Islamic finance market currently accounts for only 1% of total global financial market, but is growing at 15% per year.

Islamic funding is also a major source of investment across the Muslim world.

Islamic banks from the Middle East are expanding their operations to Malaysia and Singapore. HSBC also offers Sharia compliant products, as does Lloyds TSB in Britain. France, Luxembourg and the UK have passed laws to ensure tax neutrality for Islamic finance.

The recent global financial crisis has increased interest in Islamic finance though there have also been calls to ‘demystify it’ and to emphasis its links with other forms of alternative finance.

The Challenges

NZTE believes there are challenges for New Zealand companies wanting to participate in Halal markets including

1. Uncertainty whether the concept can reach beyond religious and racial boundaries and become a mainstream trend

2. The lack of a globally-recognised Halal standard, resulting in higher operational costs and tedious certification processes

3. The market potential still limited to Muslims because Halal certification is not a meaningful standard for non-Muslims

4. The purchasing power of Muslims in markets like Europe is still relatively low combined with their preference to buy low-cost bulk foods

5. Marketing of Halal products can be challenging and costly due to various schools of thoughts within Islam. Non-Muslim sensitivities must be considered if the product is meant for a wider market.

Source: New Zealand Trade & Enterprise

Australia: Moves to implement stunning before report

salama — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 10:22:08 +0000

A BUSINESS relationship between an Australian and Indonesian company both intimately involved in the live export trade continues to make giant strides in efficiency improvements due to their decision to self-impose codes of practice in relation to animal welfare and other safety issues prior to the Government ban in June.

Kentmaster Australia s operations manager Scott Booth and sales manager Warren Farr, with one of the stunners being supplied to Indonesian abattoirs.

Warren Farr, the sales manager of Brisbane-based stunning equipment supplier Kentmaster Australia, says arrangements were already in place with its Indonesian agent, Pt. Agro Giri Perkasa (AGP), to introduce mandatory preslaughter stunning as a supply requirement well before the Federal Government suspended the trade for a month based on Indonesian abattoir cruelty allegations.

Mr Farr said a supply order for pneumatic non-penetrating stunners was lodged by their Indonesian agent months before the airing of animal cruelty on ABC Television which led to the devastating trade halt. He said the stunners were destined for several Indonesian abattoirs that process Australian cattle, not only to improve animal welfare but to help enhance productivity gains and improve worker safety.

“It was at the time recognised that the benefits to do so weren’t just an animal welfare issue, but also encompassed other aspects such as slaughter floor/staff safety, animal handling, halal, religious and cultural beliefs, lack of refrigeration facilities and meat quality,” he said. “With the announcement of the Farmer report and the Government stating it will introduce all 14 recommendations, a number of interested parties in the supply chain (as stated in the media), are concerned that mandatory preslaughter stunning was not one of the recommendations, and believe that the Government needs to open discussion with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) as soon as possible to have this introduced.”

Mr Farr said he was heartened by a report in the September 29 edition of Queensland Country Life that highlighted the growing acceptance of preslaughter stunning within the Indonesian beef supply chain.

Australia: Jordanian princess pushes for live export restrictions

salama — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:03:16 +0000

Sean Murphy – ABC News

A member of Jordan’s royal family is urging the Australian Government to demand higher standards of its live export customers in the Middle East.

Princess Alia Al Hussein says Australia should refuse to export sheep and cattle to any market where stunning is not used before slaughter.

With financial support from the Australian Government and advice from animal advocacy charity Animals Australia, the Princess Alia Foundation has introduced stunning for more than 80 per cent of all livestock slaughtered in Jordan.

The foundation’s goal is a 100 per cent take-up of the Australian standard where animals are stunned with an electric charge or percussive blow to make them unconscious before their throats are cut.

Princess Alia says an Islamic fatwa supporting this method was issued in the 1960s and she believes the practice should be mandatory across the Middle East, where Australia will export 2.6 million sheep and about 200,000 cattle this year.

“I think you do have a right to demand that the creatures you have raised are treated in the right way and especially when it is possible, it is feasible and it’s not that hard to do,” Princess Alia said.

She says Australian chilled and frozen meat is widely imported across the region and is accepted by religious authorities as halal or compliant with Islamic sharia law.

“In Islam halal it’s also about how you treat the animal. You are supposed to lead it to death in a kind way, in a beautiful way,” Princess Alia said.

“So it may sound like an oxymoron but you’re actually supposed to treat it in a good way the whole way along the process, so it’s not just about killing it quickly it’s about not beating it, not stressing it.”

After Animals Australia and ABC TV’s Four Corners program exposed cruel practices in Indonesian abattoirs this year, the Australian Government announced new guidelines last month for the billion-dollar-a-year live export industry.

The blueprint demands compliance in all destination markets with standards set by the OIE, the World Organisation for Animal Health.

It will also require markets to ensure supply chain traceability to approved slaughtering facilities by the end of next year, but falls short of requiring stunning, which is not necessary under the OIE guidelines.

Meat and Livestock Australia’s livestock services manager for the Middle East Peter Dundon says Australian importers will instead try to encourage stunning in the region.

“Stunning is a matter for the importing country government, religious authorities and the importer,” says Mr Dundon.

The chairman of the Bahrain Livestock Company, Ebrahim Zainl, says Australia’s more diplomatic approach has a greater chance of success.

“Stunning is something new to this part of the world and unless it is made as gradual steps [it] could have some sort of negative reaction from the public,” he said.

“And it would not be to the interest of the Australian trade as a whole because people could consider that this is enforcing something which is not acceptable to the public.”

But Animals Australia advocate Lyn White says it is a missed opportunity by Australia to use its commercial leverage to enforce the more humane standard.

“We’ve seen in Indonesia in the past six months that we’ve gone from two to five facilities starting (stunning) to now 70 facilities by the end of the year,” she said.

“That’s because they were concerned at losing their supply of Australian animals, so there is real commercial leverage there and certainly the opportunity was there, and we’re disappointed that it hasn’t been taken.”

Ms White is hopeful that a bill expected to be introduced to Federal Parliament this month by Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie may still achieve a more humane outcome.

If passed, the law would require mandatory stunning in all Australian live export markets.

“We believe there’s considerable support amongst the Coalition and the ALP for stunning in importing markets,” says Ms White.

“You know there is considerable concern about live animal export and the community is not going to accept animals being sent to countries where they are not stunned before slaughter.”

Watch the full report on Landline, ABC 1 Sunday November 13 at midday.

Australia: Ministers to discuss banning religious exemptions from stunning

salama — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 06:15:23 +0000

Australia’s primary industries ministers tomorrow will discuss whether to ban religious exemptions from stunning animals at Australian abattoirs.

Currently, some abattoirs are allowed to slaughter animals without stunning under exemptions for kosher and halal meat.

The slaughterhouses with exemptions are in Victoria, NSW and South Australia.

RSPCA Australia scientific officer Melina Tensen says the Federal Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig should stop the export of non-stunned meat.

“We think the majority of unstunned slaughter is actually destined for export,” she said.

“Even just ruling out the export market would mean that most of the animals currently not being stunned prior to slaughter would actually have to be stunned.”

Senator Ludwig has confirmed that tomorrow’s ministerial meeting in Melbourne will discuss religious exemptions from stunning, but he won’t comment on what might be decided.

Australia: Yes We Can

salama — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 08:45:12 +0000

Sydney’s The Jewish House has launched its annual drive to collect food for the needy with a record 25 Coles Supermarkets participating across Sydney…and has introduced a new parter, the al-Ghazzali Centre.

Afroz Ali, Rabbi Mendel Kastel and Coles’ Fernando pic: Henry benjamin

The Jewish House’s CEO Rabbi Mendel Kastel told J-Wire: “The Centre is very enthusiastic about their involvement. We will also have involvement in the project from Visy, Fairfax and the ANZ Bank. The program used to run for a week to 10 days but Coles have agreed, given its past success, to extend it to three weeks.” The program already works with the Reverend Bill Crews’ Exodus project.

The “Yes We Can” campaign encourages shoppers to buy an extra can of food and drop it into boxes at the checkouts. The food is brought to a central warehouse where it is distributed to those in need. Both The Jewish House and the al-Ghazzali Centre will provide volunteers to man the check-out areas to encourage shoppers to participate.

The founder and president of Lakemba’s al-Ghazzali Centre, Afroz Ali, told J-Wire: “Our centre has three objectives: education, inter-faith projects and active participations in projects like this…especially on an inter-religious basis. We run the Halal food bank as there is a rising number of needy Muslims in the lower social-economic areas. Halal has the same added costs as Kosher over regular food prices. Many cannot afford Halal food and are compelled to follow a vegetarian diet. We work with Barnardo’s, and the Rev Bill Crews’ Exodus project. This ‘Yes We Can’ project with Rabbi Kastel will enable us to get more to the needy.”

He added that the centre is not a mosque and has no membership. It deals with cases on a need-be basis…and offers assistance to the needy irrespective of their religion.

Afroz Ali told J-Wire that he had worked previously on projects with Rabbi Zalman Kastel and with the Emanuel Synagogue. He said that within the Muslim community there is a greater awareness of the inter-faith work being carried out.

The expansion will expose The Jewish House’s drive to feed the needy in areas of Sydney where it has not operated before and where it is not known.

Rabbi Kastel told J-Wire that there are Kosher sections in about half the stores.

The campaign will finish shortly before Rosh Hashana giving the Jewish House time to distribute food to needy members of the Jewish community.

Coles operate Halal sections in supermarkets in areas with a large Muslim population.

Malaysia: Jakim Confirms ‘Pure Creamery Butter-Golden Churn’ Is Non-Halal

salama — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:17:22 +0000

The Islamic Development Department of Malaysia (Jakim) confirmed that the ‘Pure Creamery Butter-Golden Churn’ sold in Malaysia is non-Halal.

Its director-general, Othman Mustapha, said the decision was made after finding that the product came from the same factory as that distributed in Sarawak, although there were brought into the country by different importers.

“This was confirmed by the agent of Ballantyne Food, from New Zealand, which manufactures the product.

“Therefore, Muslims should not use the product,” he said in a statement.

Last July 19, the Sarawak Islamic Religious Department had declared the product non-Halal after it was found to contain pig DNA.

Othman said the company had been informed of the matter and it had agreed to withdraw the product from the shelves.

He said the decision was made after discussing the matter with the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry, the Chemistry Department, the Health Ministry’s Food Safety and Quality Division, the Sarawak Islamic Religious Department and the Johor Islamic Religious Department on Aug 8.

With the product being confirmed non-Halal, he advised holders and new applicants of the Halal certificate who use the product to change it with other type of butter which is certified Halal and to keep the purchase receipt of the new product as proof.

They are also required to carry out a ritual cleansing process by using clay soil and water, known as ’samak’, and it has to be witnessed by the Islamic Religious Department in the respective states, he added. — BERNAMA

Opinion: Ending cruelty against animals has its price

salama — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:49:06 +0000

By Harry Bhaskara, Brisbane, Australia

The Australian government has lifted its month-long livestock export ban to Indonesia but shipments will not start to pick up again until October.

The ban was initially imposed for six months to pacify public outrage following the footage of horrendous cruelty in 11 Indonesian slaughterhouses broadcast here late May. In the footage, gentle Brahmanian steers were kicked and beaten, their eyes gouged and throats hacked at with dull knives.

“Never in my life have I seen or imagined anything as frightful as the slaughtering of Australian cattle in Indonesia as shown on the ABC,” a reader wrote to The Australian.

“Talkback radio in Sydney this morning boiled over with fury,” a blogger commented a day after the broadcast.

Taxpayers know that their government spends millions of dollars on aid to Indonesia — about US$560 million this year alone — including funding to improve slaughterhouses. They might have felt that Indonesia bites the hand that feeds it.

Now that the ban has been lifted, credit is due to government officials of both countries who have thwarted a more serious diplomatic rift.

The Indonesian government did not make good on its word to take Australia to the World Trade Organization or to close its doors to cattle exporters, while the Australian government had the courage to back down also.

Indonesia seemed to realize that the knee-jerk response by Australia was taken under fierce public pressure.

But the damage has been done. Australian farmers were hurt so badly that some put their ranches up for sale. Others threatened to slaughter their stock. The Gillard government doled out millions of dollars to lessen the huge losses sustained by the farmers.

Thousands of people in both countries have lost their jobs and 11,000 cattle were left stranded in the Northern Territory.

The ban was a punishment to Indonesian consumers for the wrong committed by some slaughterhouses. It was a punishment to professional Australian cattle producers who did nothing wrong.

A farmer said the ban was as if there was a decision to ban all cars on the road after it emerged that “3,000 people were killed” in a year.

Animal welfare activists here are not happy with the lifting of the ban as they had aimed for a permanent ban. Never mind if slaughtering is the last link in the chain of cruelty inflicted by man on animals. What about the hundreds of cattle dying at sea every year during shipment?

Despite official assurances, people in some Indonesian regions have been deprived of beef supplies as imports of 550,000 heads of cattle per year were disrupted.

It was akin to the sudden drop in vegetable production in Queensland after cyclone Yasi and ensuing floods devastated vast tracts of agricultural land earlier this year.

Imported cattle make up about one-third of Indonesia’s beef consumption.

A less tangible but significant effect is the notion of violence slipping into the Australian psyche, adding to a list of vice that includes bombings, riots and people smuggling.

Often overlooked in the debate was the fact that the majority of Indonesians were as shocked as Australians in learning about the horrendous killing of animals. Australians tend to tar all Indonesians with the same brush: as ignorant, barbarian and poor.

But cruelty against animals is not restricted to poor countries. More than 277,000 complaints of animal cruelty were reported between 2005 and last year in Australia, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

On the other hand, there are people in poor countries who have the dignity to stun animals before killing them.

The reaction here underscores a less than accurate perception of Indonesia. Australians are not to blame for it, as they are continuously fed negative news about corruption, terrorism and communal conflicts in Indonesia.

Violent incidents in the past do not necessarily translate that an entire people have violent attitudes, for the simple reason that they often became victims of violence themselves.

If anything, the Muslim community has been the most grateful recipient of these revelations, as they learned that they had not been eating halal meat all this time.

Halal killings advocate minimal pain be inflicted upon animals and this is the strongest reason why the government should stop animal cruelty in the country’s 500 slaughterhouses.

On the other side of the ledger, Indonesians may be forgiven for thinking that the public outrage over animal cruelty was fiercer than the outrage over refugees being killed at sea. Still, it is regrettable that another country should point out this evil in Indonesia, a negligence that could send the wrong message, namely that the people here condone animal cruelty.

The ball is now in the hands of the Indonesian Meat Producers and Feedlot Association who will work together with government officials from both countries, as well as the Meat and Livestock Australia to ensure best practices in Indonesian slaughterhouses.

Holding the high moral ground turns out to have a high price; in this case, Australia’s annual $300 million livestock export to Indonesia. When emotions runs high you have to be prepared to pay for it. Otherwise, forget it.

The writer is a journalist.

Indonesia to issue import permits for 180,000 cattle

salama — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 15:04:46 +0000

Tom Allard

July 9, 2011

INDONESIA has announced it will issue permits for the importation of 180,000 cattle and foreshadowed a campaign to upgrade the standards of its slaughterhouses.

The release of the permits for so many beasts just two days after Australia lifted its month-long suspension of the live cattle trade was welcomed by industry figures and surprised some insiders with its speed.

The suspension of the trade, worth $320 million last year, was prompted by disturbing footage obtained by activist group Animals Australia showing Australian cattle being mistreated in Indonesian abattoirs.

”We will improve all of our abattoirs,” said Indonesia’s Co-ordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Hatta Rajasa at a joint press conference with Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd yesterday.

”We, of course, would welcome the use of new devices that meet the halal standard. This is what we emphasised.” The comments suggest that Indonesia is prepared to allow a new influx of stun guns into its abattoirs, as long as they are halal.

That is, they don’t actually kill the cattle but render them unconscious before they are killed by a knife to the throat.

Mr Rudd welcomed the issuing of the import permits for 180,000 cattle. However, the quota will not be filled entirely with beasts from Australia. Indonesian importers have been actively looking for other countries to supply them with cattle since the ban was in place.

Mr Hatta played down any suggestions there had been a serious rupture in ties between the two nations. ”The bilateral relationship of two countries has ups and downs, just like a love story. But the spirit is that both countries will always stay together,” he said.

Under Australia’s new regime, export permits will be issued only to Australian transport ships that can prove the cattle will be sent to abattoirs that meet world standards and can be monitored closely.

Australia believes there are 25 abattoirs in Indonesia that meet world standards, although local importers believe the number could be as high as 35.

International animal welfare standards do not require that cattle be immobilised with stun guns before they are killed. Fewer than 10 Indonesian abattoirs use stun guns.

Following the issuing of the import permits and the end of Australia’s ban, major exporter Elders will likely begin bringing cattle to Indonesia on August 1.

However, other companies will take longer to obtain the necessary independent audit and organise the paperwork.