Imtiaz Velji (right), the Quality Meat Packers finance manager with Diamond Velji, the managing director during the launch of its products at the Serena Hotel on December 4, 2012. Photo/DIANA NGILA
What you need to know:
A culture of consuming ready-to-eat meat products is gaining currency in Kenya due to increased urbanisation.
The company has invested Sh425 million ($5 million) in setting up a new meat processing plant that will manufacture pre-cooked products such as sausages, ham, salami, pastrami, pizza toppings and hotdogs.
The move now puts the company in competition with firms such as the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC), Farmer’s Choice and Kenchic, which produce processed meat products.
Quality Meat Packers, a Kenyan firm, has launched a new line of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products to cash in on changing consumer behaviour.
A culture of consuming ready-to-eat meat products is gaining currency in Kenya due to increased urbanisation.
“The changing consumer behaviour as a result of changing lifestyles presents a growing need for finished food products,” said Imtiaz Velji, the Quality Meat Packers finance manager. “Value addition will help us grow market share and sales volumes.”
The company has invested Sh425 million ($5 million) in setting up a new meat processing plant that will manufacture pre-cooked products such as sausages, ham, salami, pastrami, pizza toppings and hotdogs.
This is the first time the firm is producing its own branded products as it had been supplying bulk beef, lamb and poultry to hotels, restaurants, butcheries and supermarkets.
The move now puts the company in competition with firms such as the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC), Farmer’s Choice and Kenchic, which produce processed meat products.
The KMC produces value added products such as beef burgers, meat balls, sausages, canned ox tongue and corned beef.
Quality Meat Packers said it sells 500 tonnes of meat a month in the local market and exports a similar volume to African and Middle East markets.
The company supplies beef, lamb and chicken to Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
The privately owned meat processor has already acquired the halal certification, a dietary set of guidelines for Muslims necessary to access Islamic export markets, to support its export growth to the Middle East and Asia.
“We are looking forward to expanding and penetrating new markets in 2013 including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia and China among others,” said Quality Meat Packers.
Kenyan meat processors have shifted focus to value addition for the local market and growing exports to the Middle East and Africa after losing the key European Union market in 2008 due to safety concerns.
The eurozone was previously the biggest export market for Kenyan meat, accounting for 400,000 metric tonnes of processed beef annually.
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