According to Mr Samar Qureshi, Director of the Delhi-based Hind Agro Industries Ltd, the lifting of the ban on export of buffalo meat to Saudi Arabia has created a huge market that did not exist so far. "Our exporters are currently doing a business of about 3,500 tonnes per month in buffalo meat alone", he said.

Mr Irfan Allana of Allanasons Ltd and President of the All-India Meat and Livestock Exporters' Association (AIMLEA), said that a lot of buying interest had been received after the opening up of the Saudi market. "The peak purchases are normally for the Ramzan period of October-November and the Haj season in end-January. After evening out for these peaks, we could expect annual sales of 35,000-45,000 tonnes," he stated.

To put this in perspective, India exports about three lakh tonnes of frozen buffalo meat every year, of which the bulk goes to Malaysia (80,000 tonnes), Philippines (47,000 tonnes), the UAE (28,000 tonnes) and Egypt (20,000 tonnes). "The addition of Saudi Arabia means an accretion from nil to around 40,000 tonnes straightaway", noted Mr A Dinshaw of Al Kabeer Exports Private Ltd, Mumbai.

Mr R.K. Boyal, General Manager, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda), estimated that Saudi Arabia could potentially buy about 3,000 containers (each 25 tonnes) of buffalo meat from the country. This would make it the second largest market for Indian buffalo meat after Malaysia.

"The Kingdom buys about 4 lakh tonnes (lt) of beef (cow meat) every year, mainly from the US, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Argentina. But with fears of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease) incidence, they have gone slow on purchases of beef from the US, which has created an opportunity for us," he pointed out.

Saudi Arabia incidentally is also India's largest buyer of basmati rice, accounting for roughly 55 per cent of the total annual exports of seven lakh tonnes. "Just as basmati rice, we are trying to create a niche for buffalo meat, given that it is also unique to the sub-continent. Moreover, buffalo meat is much leaner and has lower cholesterol content compared to beef," Mr K.S. Money, Chairman, APEDA, said.

In fact, a country like Malaysia meets more than 80 per cent of its beef imports requirement now in the form of buffalo meat purchased from India. Another market likely to register a pick-up is Egypt.

Till it imposed a ban in August 2002 - citing incidence of sarcocyst parasite - Egypt was buying roughly 45,000 tonnes annually. "We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Egyptian authorities, leading to resumption of exports this year", Mr Money added.

The country's biggest buffalo meat exporters are Allanasons, Hind Agro and Al-Kabeer, who all operate fully-integrated abattoir-cum-meat processing plants.