Cherkizovo Group, the largest vertically integrated meat and feed producer in Russia, has launched exports of halal poultry meat to Tanzania. By the year-end, total shipments to the country are expected to reach up to 500 tons.
The first batch of 54 tons was dispatched to Zanzibar from Cherkizovo’s poultry farm in the Lipetsk region of Russia. This facility received its license to export halal products in April 2016 after the production process was certified on its adherence to the Islamic rules of animal slaughter.
Having identified the market opportunities for halal meat both domestically and internationally, Cherkizovo used state-of-the-art technology to re-engineer its production process to meet halal standards. The company now produces smaller broilers of 1.1-1.3kg for the Muslim market under its halal brand, Dajajti for export markets, shipping them in frozen form.
Following a rigorous selection process, Cherkizovo chose Zanchick as its distributor for the Tanzanian market. Zanchik is one of the largest distributors of poultry meat, including premium halal meat, in East Africa and has an extensive distribution network on Zanzibar, enabling it to control the entire supply chain of frozen products.
Andrei Terekhin, head of the export department at Cherkizovo, said, “Even though our first shipments to Tanzania are relatively small in volume, the launch of exports to Tanzania marks another milestone in our journey to expand sales of our products internationally. Since over 90 percent of Zanzibar’s population practices Islam, we anticipate high demand for our halal products and hope to increase export volumes to the country next year. Exports are a strategic sales channel for Cherkizovo and growing our export markets is one of our priority development areas. We are currently reviewing new export opportunities in the Near East, Middle East and Africa and we look forward to expanding our export footprint.”
