Parkash Badal, chief minister of the Punjabi government, has told pork stakeholders the state is continuing to modernise the meat sector and intends to set up a “state-of-the-art” processing factory, according to the national newspaper the Hindu.
A number of possible sites have been identified for the facility, Professor Uppal, a spokesman for the Punjab’s department of animal husbandry, told GlobalMeatNews. The aim is to process an estimated 400,000 American Yorkshire pigs per year, once the site is operational.
Punjab is at the forefront of modernising India’s agricultural industry and the state already produces around 76,000 tonnes of pork per year, according to UK levy board AHDB Pork.
Changing trade landscape
A delegation of Punjab government officials visited pig-breeding facilities, genetics laboratories, feed mills and abattoirs in the UK in January 2016 as the state looks to develop its blossoming pork industry
While the UK exports a very small amount of pork to India, officials in Punjab hold the UK industry is high esteem and the visit was geared up to gather industry insight.
There has been progress on the trade front too, as Northern Ireland-based processor Dunbia exported its first shipments of pork to India in December 2015.
The major suppliers of pork to India are Belgium, Sri Lanka, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, according to a 2016 report from the US department of agriculture.