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Bengal Meat eyes better sales

The company plans to open 20 butcher's shops by year-end

Suman Saha
BENGAL Meat Processing Industries, a meat producer and exporter, aims to expand its business riding on high demand for processed meat.
The company plans to open at least 20 new butcher’s shops and roll out several new value-added products for retail customers by year-end.
Bengal Meat counted Tk 30 crore in annual sales in 2011, according to data provided by the company.
“Demand for fresh halal meat is gradually rising in Bangladesh, as people are becoming more health-conscious,” Mazharul Islam, managing director of Bengal Meat, told The Daily Star at the company's head office in Dhaka.
“We have a plan to expand our operation to serve hygiene conscious customers.”
The company sells meat at two types of outlets: complete butcher's shop and semibutcher's shop. More than 50 semi-butcher's shops sell only raw meat while both raw meat and value-added meat products — burger patty, boneless and head meat — are found at
its over 15 complete butcher's shops in Dhaka.
The firm opened one of its exclusive butcher's shops at DCC Market in Gulshan on September 10. It also has its presence in Mohammadpur and Wari.
Bengal Meat regularly supplies beef and mutton to five-star hotels, including Westin, Radisson, Ruposhi Bangla and Sonargaon Hotel, in Dhaka and most leading hotels in Cox's Bazar, including Ocean Paradise, Hotel The Cox Today and Mermaid Cafe.
The Pabna-based company also supplies meat to the country’s most leading clubs such as Dhaka, Gulshan and Uttara Club, said Shamsher Alam Chowdhury, head of sales and distribution of the firm.
Dhaka city dwellers consume around 250 tonnes of meat a day and traditional butcher's shops provide most of the meat. Chowdhury said his company now holds a 5 percent share of the market in the capital.
Bangladesh has the seventh largest cattle population in the world, but has one of the lowest per capita meat consumption, industry insiders said.
Generally, a person should take lOOgm to 11 Ogm of protein a day while Bangladeshis take 12gm meat a day, according to nutritionists.
So, per capita meat consumption should be increased as per capita income rises, Chowdhury said.
The official said Bengal Meat would now diversify its product range to provide better services to retail customers and export markets.
“We have a plan to sell more value-added products for retail customers,” he said, adding that the company will start selling value-added frozen meat products through 250 delivery vans in the capital after Eid-ul-Ahza and double the number of vans by next year.
The company will come up with a number of new products in November such as minced meat, burger patty, boneless and head meat to help busy city-dwellers make "ready to cook” foods, he said.
Currendy, Bengal Meat sells per kilogram of beef at Tk 290, mutton at Tk 450 and chicken with skin at Tk 325.
The firm witnessed an export growth in the last several years.
Bengal Meat's exports rose 67 percent to $10 lakh in 2011 from a year ago, said AKM Sayadul Haq Bhuiyan, senior manager for finance and corporate affairs ofthe company.
The company exported processed meat worth $10 lakh in the eight months through August against its full-year target for $15 lakh, he said.
It exports to the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait and aims to reach out to Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Malaysia soon to serve expatriate Bangladeshis and other Muslims in those countries, he said.
There is a huge market for halal meat especially in the Middle East and Malaysia with a combined annual market size of Tk 600 crore.
Bengal Meat buys cattle from the local market after a thorough check-up, rears them at their own farms and then sells meat at home and abroad, company officials said.
The company that began its operations in 2006 has its own cattle rearing farm on around 130 acres.
suman.saha@thedailystar.net