Meat, textile exports hit by Lebanon crisis

The conflict in Lebanon has taken a toll on Indian exporters of meat and textiles. On the one hand, the fighting has almost put an end to the hopes of meat and livestock suppliers here of gaining what was considered a lost market.

On the other, synthetic textiles suppliers have orders worth around Rs 40 crore which they are unable to send to buyers in the region.

According to sources, the Lebanon government had banned import of meat from India a couple of years ago, raising questions pertaining to quality.

The Indian government had sent detailed reports to Lebanon, which convinced Lebanese authorities and the ban was lifted recently.

"In fact, the first couple of meat containers had been sent to Lebanon just a few days before the fighting broke out," said an official at the Agriculture and Processed Foods Development Authority (APEDA).

Meat and meat products, especially frozen buffalo meat, has a good market in Lebanon as it is cheaper in comparison to fresh meat.

However, two years ago, importers of this commodity faced challenge from a syndicate of live stock importers in Lebanon. It was only on the Lebanon government's intervention, that local authorities there standardised the procedure for importing frozen meat from India and also shortlisted certain Indian companies for imports.

Textile suppliers say that they do not want to move their goods to the ports as they are not convinced about how long the goods might remain there.

Another impact of the Lebanon crisis has been on the synthetic textiles industry here.

According to the Chairman of the Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council, R L Toshniwal, exports to Lebanon, Syria and Jordan have come to a standstill in the last three weeks.

"We have stocks worth about Rs 40 crore, which we are unable to supply to our buyers in these countries." According to Toshniwal, these orders were placed around two-three months ago.