Sword hangs over meat, leather exporters

Liaquat Ali, of Meerut, had a flourishing business as a cattle trader, supplying animals to local slaughterhouses, including some prominent meat exporters. But, for the last few months, his business has dwindled.

If the crackdown on ‘illegal’ abattoirs by the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh (UP) was not enough, Friday’s notification on the sale and purchase of animals from markets might leave Ali with hardly any option but to shut up shop.

“An old, infirm animal, be it a bull or a buffalo (called ‘kanda’ in local parlance) fetches ~30,000-50,000 in local markets. Who will buy them now?” he asks.

The Union ministry of environment and forest has banned the sale and purchase of cattle from animal markets for slaughter, and those purchasing animals from these markets would have to provide an undertaking that they would not be slaughtered.

After criticism from various quarters, the government on Saturday clarified that the new law was to protect beasts and not to regulate the cattle trade for slaughterhouses, and said it would examine representations. However, the government’s statements have not helped soothe frayed nerves.

DB Sabharwal, secretary general, All India Meat and Livestock Exporters Association, told Business Standard: “We want the government to remove buffalo from the definition of cattle under the new rules.” The association’s other major recommendation is not to include lairage in the definition of mandi. A lairage is a place where animals are laid for resting before slaughter.

India’s buffalo meat export in the financial year 2016-17 was worth $3.5 billion, and domestic consumption of buffalo meat is estimated at $2 billion.

Some of the provisions in the notification are not practical, say industry experts. Aspi Dinshaw, vice president, All India Meat and Livestock Exporters Association, said, “One provision says animals that have irreparable, severe injury or are terminally ill or have even died naturally can’t be sold for leather or flayed but such carcasses should be incinerated. Incinerations are costly and consume high-voltage power which most villages don’t have.”

The UP leather industry, estimated at ~20,000 crore, was already reeling under pressure due to a supply shortage of raw hide following stringent action and subsequent closure of illegal abattoirs in the state under the new political regime.

UP has 50 per cent share in the $5.3 billion leather exports. The new law will hurt the leather trade further. For example, the Kanpur cluster depends 80 per cent on buffalo hides.

Agri-economy expert Sudhir Panwar said, “The direct fallout of the notification would mean the closure of unlicensed tanneries and slaughterhouses. It could also result in increased instances of stray animals as farmers and dairy owners would abandon their animals if they are unable to sell them.” Rafeeque Ahmed, president of All India Skin and Hide Tanners and Merchants Association, said the move would disrupt an established system where all cattle, including productive and working draft animals and those meant for slaughter, were traded. The ban also comes at a time when the Centre has set a target of $20 billion revenue for leather industry in the next three years. An industry official said, “If the new law is implemented both in letter and spirit, within three months, the leather business will go to countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam, where all kinds of new leather clusters are coming up, and to Pakistan and China. No buyer is going to wait even for a month; they will go to another country.” Tamil Nadu, another key exporting state, does not depend on buffalo hide, which accounts for only five per cent of the total hide used by the leather industry in the state.