Pakistani company wins $3.9 million contract to export meat to Saudi Arabia

A butcher wearing a facemask carries goat meat at a market during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Islamabad on April 9, 2020. (AFP/File)
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Updated 02 March 2021
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Pakistani company wins $3.9 million contract to export meat to Saudi Arabia

  • The Organic Meat Company Limited is the first Pakistani organization that has been approved by the Saudi Food and Drug Authority to export frozen meat via sea
  • The company’s founder says the contract will boost the confidence of foreign firms on local organizations in working in the meat processing sector

KARACHI: The Organic Meat Company Limited (TOMCL), a major halal meat exporter to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), announced on Monday it had won a high-value contract of $3.9 million to export frozen boneless meat to the kingdom.
“We would like to inform you that The Organic Meat Company Limited has secured a high value contract for supply of frozen boneless meat with a multinational customer in Saudi Arabia,” the company said in a note to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).
This also makes the organization the first Pakistani company that has been approved by a multinational food processing firm for meat supply from Pakistan.
The Organic Meat Company added that the awarded contract was approximately $3.9 million under which the company would export 100 metric tons of frozen boneless meat every month for a year through sea routes to Jeddah.
The company has also received an approval from the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA).
“TOMCL has been contracted to supply frozen boneless meat to National Food Company (Americana), which is one of the most successful organizations in the Middle East. The group is considered one of the largest food manufacturing and distributing companies in the region,” read the company’s statement to PSX.
Its management officials noted that the export contract with a key market player in Saudi Arabia would boost trust among foreign food processors.
“It is good for Pakistan because it will increase the confidence of foreign food processors since this export contract implies that there are such companies in Pakistan who can supply quality meat to them,” Faisal Husain, the organization’s founder and chief executive officer, told Arab News on Tuesday. “This will also increase the share of Pakistani meat products in the Saudi market.”
Analysts say that despite the coronavirus pandemic, food exports from Pakistan have shown improvement and meat exporters are playing a major role in it.
“We have seen improvement in many export-oriented sectors in the past few months. Despite the virus, exports have improved in food and a few other sectors. Pakistan has a huge potential to export meat,” Muhammad Sohail, chief executive officer of Topline Securities, told Arab News, adding: “The Organic Meat Company, being one of the largest meat exporters, is playing a key role.”

 

 

Pakistan’s exports of meat and meat preparations stood at $103 million during the July-October 2020 period, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. In terms of quantity, the exports were 20 percent higher than the same period of last year.
Based in Karachi, The Organic Meat Company’s facilities are approved to supply products to Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Maldives, Hong Kong and Vietnam.
The company was incorporated in 2010 and raised about Rs800 million from initial public offering (IPO) at PSX to set up two new facilities to process and export offal to far eastern markets.


Daesh media chief for ISKP in Pakistan’s custody — state media

Updated 16 min 44 sec ago
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Daesh media chief for ISKP in Pakistan’s custody — state media

  • Sultan Aziz Azzam, a senior member of ISKP, used to head its Al Azzam media outlet, says state media
  • Azzam was arrested in May while attempting to cross into Pakistan from Afghanistan, says state media

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities have taken into custody Sultan Aziz Azzam, the head of Daesh regional affiliate ISKP’s media outlet, state media reported on Thursday citing intelligence sources. 

The state-run Pakistan TV Digital reported that Azzam was a senior member of ISKP and hailed from Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. As per the state media report, he is also a graduate of the University of Nangarhar where he studied Islamic jurisprudence. 

Pakistan TV Digital reported Azzam joined ISKP in 2016 and later became a prominent member of its leadership council.

“He was arrested in May 2025 while attempting to cross from Afghanistan into Pakistan,” Pakistan TV Digital reported, citing intelligence sources. 

“He is believed to have overseen media operations and headed ISKP’s Al Azzam media outlet.”

In November 2021, Washington listed Azzam as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” (SDGT). The move bars American citizens from engaging in transactions with persons designated as SDGTs. 

According to a report on the UN Security Council’s website, Azzam has played an “instrumental role” in spreading Daesh’s violent ideology, glorifying and justifying “terrorist acts.” 

“Building on his former experience as an Afghan journalist, his activity as ISIL-K’s spokesperson has increased ISIL-K’s visibility and influence among its followers,” the report states. 

The report further states Azzam claimed responsibility on behalf of Daesh for the suicide attack near Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 26, 2021, which killed at least 170 Afghans and 13 US service members and injured 150 more. 

The development takes place amid tense relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with Islamabad alleging militants use Afghan soil to carry out attacks against Pakistan. Kabul denies the allegations.

Tensions surged in October when Pakistan and Afghanistan engaged in fierce border clashes, claiming to have killed dozens of soldiers of the other side.

Pakistan has urged the Afghan Taliban-led government to take “decisive action” against militants it says operate from its soil. Afghanistan says it cannot be held responsible for Pakistan’s security challenges.