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KUALA LUMPUR: For more than a decade, Kuala Lumpur street vendor Abu Zahrim Ismail has seen strong sales of dendeng, a spicy jerky of buffalo meat, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
But this year, the spread of the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically reduced shipments of Indian buffalo meat, increasing prices and hurting sales.
Most of the meat processing plants in India, the world’s second largest exporter of beef and Malaysia’s largest supplier, have been closed as the South Asian nation struggles to contain the pandemic.
“The virus has really turned everything upside down,” said Abu.
India generally sells more than 100,000 tons of buffalo meat each month, but in March exports fell to around 40,000 tons, according to two exporters.
Sales are likely to have been even lower in April as the widespread blockades went into effect, and even in May they are expected to remain well below normal despite some parts of the Indian economy reopening, they added. .
“Right now, things are not going in our industry’s favor. Although it is food, it is not considered essential as it is for exports, “said one of the exporters based in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
“As of now, all exporters are trying to move their current stocks that they have.”
Wholesale prices for frozen buffalo meat in Malaysia have risen 15% -20% from a year ago this month during the Ramadan festival, which generally accounts for up to 20% of the country’s annual consumption as families they gather to rest.
“Malaysians would typically consume about 350 containers of buffalo meat a month from India, it has now been cut in half,” said a Kuala Lumpur-based importer.
The decline in retail demand during the Malaysian embargo has also affected overall demand for meat imports.
“We are only open to carry during the motion control order. Sales have fallen about 80%, ”said the president of the Association of Indian Muslim Restaurant Operators (Presma), Ayub Khan.
Global meat disorder
In 2019, India shipped about 1.5 million tons of beef, which comes mainly from dairy buffalo, compared to 2.3 million tons sold by Brazil’s leading supplier, according to the US Department of Agriculture. USA
The lack of such supplies is being felt acutely in Malaysia, which depends on India for 70% of beef imports, as well as Indonesia, where a quarter of imports come from India and buffalo. It is popular with low-income groups because of its low cost.
Indonesian buyers, who were expected to buy 170,000 tonnes of Indian beef this year before the delays caused by the virus occurred, are trying to shift to other origins such as Brazil and Argentina, industry sources in Jakarta said.
But the global Covid-19 pandemic has made it difficult to replace lost supplies, especially after the world’s largest meat companies, including Smithfield Foods Inc, Cargill Inc, JBS USA and Tyson, halted operations at about 20 slaughterhouses. and processing plants in North America after the workers fell ill.
Brazil, the first beef exporter, was also affected, as the BRF meat processor registered 18 cases of Covid-19 at the end of April in an industrial center that employs about 3,100 people.
Restricted restart
Indian meat processors are eager to restart the plants once the restrictions are eased, but lasting social distancing measures mean that it will not be easy to obtain animals in the usual way.
Dairy cattle in India are sent to the slaughterhouse after they have passed their prime, and meat mill agents often go from house to house to buy animals that are then trucked to slaughterhouses.
Animal markets, banned or highly restricted in scale under blockade, are also a key source.
“Questions remain about how quickly the raw material can be obtained and processed following all the rules of social distancing,” an official with the All India Meat and Livestock Exporters Association told Reuters.
The association’s exporters, importers and officials were unwilling to be named due to sensitivity to food supplies.
The net effect of interrupted supplies from India will mean lower overall meat imports in cost-sensitive markets in Asia, J.Y. Chow, food and agriculture expert at Mizuho Bank in Singapore.
“Supply is being disrupted, so any substitute will need to be sourced from an upgrade and will therefore erode volume demand. No other country sells buffalo meat in the volumes that India does. ”
