PM approves livestock export expansion plan

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has signed off on a scheme to lift livestock exports, according to Dawn, which reported the decision from a Monday meeting in Islamabad. Under the plan, high-yield breeds would be brought into the country, reared at dedicated farms and then shipped abroad. The premier also backed a move to reorganise the sector on corporate lines with input from private-sector specialists.

Duties on imports of livestock for these farms will be waived, and a modern animal-tagging system is to be introduced so that stock raised there reaches export markets. He asked authorities to produce, within two weeks, a roadmap setting targets for eradicating foot-and-mouth disease. International certification for slaughterhouses and third-party checks were also ordered.

Officials told the meeting that the country holds about 245 million animals valued near Rs5.5 trillion, and that meat exports reached roughly $530 million in 2025-26, mostly to Gulf states. Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and China were named as prospective new markets. Small-scale farming and fragmented supply chains were identified as obstacles to tapping the sector's potential.