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Malaysia To Resume Importing Beef From Australia

MELBOURNE, March 16 (Bernama) -- Australian beef exports to Malaysia will resume next month after a dispute over slaughtering that locked out shipments worth up to A$30 million, it is reported.

Malaysia has agreed to lift the ban on imports after its Islamic advisory body determined that slaughter practices at particular Australian abattoirs met religious requirements, the Australian Associated said.

Malaysia's Agriculture Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that five abattoirs have been approved after a delegation accompanied him on a visit to Australia last week.

Australia's peak red meat body, Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), said the dispute began last year when Malaysia's religious leaders changed the rules for imported beef.

But MLA's South East Asia marketing chief Tim Kelf said Malaysia's tourist industry -- which relied on top end beef -- had demanded the rules be relaxed.

"There was some lobbying in Malaysia by the tourist industry who said they couldn't survive without this product," he said.

"That put pressure on Malaysia to look at the process."

Malaysia's National Fatwa Council has announced that the system of stunning animals used by Australian abattoirs met halal requirements, the AAP report said.

Imports from Australia were temporarily suspended last July, and in February Malaysia considered a long-term ban.

Kelf said the suspension of trade had risked up to 5,000 tonnes in chilled beef exports worth A$30 million, plus a similar amount of offal valued at about A$15 million.

Another Malaysian delegation is due to visit Australia on March 27 to inspect the five approved abattoirs -- two in Queensland, two in Victoria and one in Tasmania.

Exports to Malaysia are expected to resume early next month.

-- BERNAMA