LOCAL MEAT PRODUCERS URGED TO COMPETE IN GLOBAL HALAL MARKET

BATANG BERJUNTAI (Malaysia), June 3 (Bernama) -- Local producers of halal
meat and meat products have been urged to increase their production as well as
the promotion of their products to capture some of the global halal products and
services market which is valued at RM7.6 trillion annually.

Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry Mukhriz Mahathir said
that in Malaysia itself, local meat producers also had the edge as
their products were more fresh than the imported meat which are stored frozen
for a long time in the process of delivery.

He said this after visiting Rumpun Berkat Sdn Bhd's dairy farm here
Wednesday.
The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kumpulan Zikay.

Mukhriz said that while many local restaurants serving steak usually
advertised that their meat is imported from Australia, Argentina, New Zealand or
the US, the meat from Malaysia in reality was also at par and capable of
competing, he said.

Local meat, apart from the guarantee of being halal, are also more fresh
considering that they are kept frozen for a shorter period than imported meat,
he said.

As for the meat produced by Rumpun Berkat, the cows slaughtered and
processed by them are of the Brahman mixed breed imported from Australia and
marketed under the name of Amal Beef.

He said the opportunity to enter the global halal market should be grabbed
local producers as many of the producers of halal products including meat are
currently non Muslim countries while the consumers were also mostly non Muslim
countries.

He also hoped that meat producers like Rumpun Berkat will be able to export
their products overseas in the future.

Meanwhile, the Managing Director of Kumpulan Zikay, Mohd Khay Ibrahim said
that the meat products of Rumpun Berkat such as prime cuts are marketed in 17
hypermarkets in the Klang Valley with 12 of them being Giant hypermarkets and
five Carrefour hypermarkets.

He said the company started its operations after taking a 30-year lease on
the slaughter house from Perbadanan Kemajuan Pertanian Selangor (PKPS) in 2007.

The facility had to be upgraded as the slaughter house had not been used for
10 years. But now, it handles 50 cows daily, he said.

Right now, the company is entering its second phase where it is putting into
place the meat slicer and cutting machines as well as the freezer rooms in order
to produce meat based products like burger meat, sausages and meat balls, Mohd
Khay said.

-- BERNAMA