Dubai-based AMK Metal Fzco is investing US$30 million to enter the halal beef space in Kazakhstan, according to Black Sea Grain. The company has reached an agreement with local authorities for the construction of a livestock operation that will run 20,000 head of cattle and will include a halal-certified processing plant that will have the capacity to produce 5,000 tons of beef per year, reports Global Meat News.

 

The project represents the largest agro-industrial project undertaken in the Baidibek district, according to Black Sea Grain. The site itself will cover an area of five hectares, and the investors have received an allocation of 2,000 hectares of irrigated land and 17,000 hectares of pastureland from local government authorities to support the needs of the venture.

 

Kazakhstan is currently self-sufficient in beef according to government officials. This achievement and the fact that the country was inducted as a member of the World Trade Organization in 2015, and that nine regions of the country were declared free of foot-and-mouth disease last year, have led the country’ meat industry to expand with exports in mind – particularly halal and organic exports.

 

“Agricultural exports could be an important means of developing the economy,” Asset Issekeshev, Minister for Investment and Development in Kazakhstan told Global Meat News. “The main emphasis could be placed on high-quality organic food. Kazakhstan could command an important niche [in the international market] in this sector.”

 

The project will focus mainly on exporting products to Muslim countries, however, the country is casting a wide reach into global markets.

 

“The Ministry of Agriculture has already started negotiations on deliveries of meat to China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia,” a spokesman for the Agriculture Ministry told Global Meat News.