The Hindu Business Line : Australia to set up more hubs in Gulf for sheep meat exports

A private veterinarian artificially inseminating a Merino ewe at a sheep breeding farm in Monreo, some 465 km north of Sydney. Artificial insemination is done to ensure the ewe delivers a pure Merino breed, which is then sold off to commercial farms. — M.R. Subramani

Recently in Canberra

TURNING wiser after its live sheep exports to Saudi Arabia ran into problems, Australia plans to promote exports of sheep meat. It also plans to set up hubs for exporting the meat, according to Mr Warren Trust, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

"We are now encouraging export of sheep meat. In order to ship meat to the Gulf countries, we have a hub in Kuwait. We will be setting up another in Jordan," Mr Truss told a group of visiting journalists.

Australia, which has banned export of sheep to Saudi Arabia after one of its consignments of 57,000 sheep ran into a controversy, is planning to hold talks with the Gulf kingdom to resume shipments.

"We will be also talking to them to ensure such incidents do not recur," he said.

The shipment of the sheep ran into problem after Saudi Arabia complained that they had been affected by scabbie mouth.

"There is a tolerance limit of 5 per cent for such eventuality. But Saudi Arabian authorities claimed over 30 per cent of the sheep had been affected by the scabbie. Finally, it said six per cent of the sheep had been affected and did not allow the sheep to be downloaded," said Mr Truss.

Saudi Arabia usually buys live sheep. Countries in the Gulf prefer to buy live one to be given as gift or slaughtered during festivity.

According to Mr Truss, .

when Saudi authorities rejected the shipment, Australia offered it to Pakistan only to get a "No. Thanks" reply. Not less than 50 countries rejected the sheep.

Finally, Australia decided to donate the sheep to Eritrea. And to defray the cost of the animals, it gifted 3,000 tonnes of feed and A$1 million (Rs 3.55 crore) to the Eritrean Government.

"We had even problems in getting the ship across the Suez Canal. The Egyptian Government did not allow them to take it across the Suez, saying Rhine valley fever was rampant then," said Mr Truss.

By the time the sheep reached Eritrea, nearly 60 died. The mid-sea drama had animal rights activists in arms, seeking proper treatment.

As a first step, Australia banned shipments of live sheep to Saudi Arabia. Next, it ordered that all sheep being sent out of Australia be vaccinated.

Australia is one of the biggest live sheep-exporting nation. It had been exporting nearly six million sheep until the row with Saudis. During the current fiscal to June, the exports are projected to fall to around 4.2 million.