Qatar becomes third halal market to allow hanwoo exports, after Malaysia and UAE
Chilled and frozen boneless beef eligible; hygiene and halal requirements must be met
Negotiations to expand exports to bone-in cuts, including galbi, also planned
Qatar has opened its market to Korean hanwoo beef, becoming the third halal market to allow such imports after Malaysia and the UAE. A first shipment of 100 kilograms of chilled hanwoo is set to depart for Doha in early October.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Sunday it had concluded negotiations with Qatar's Ministry of Public Health on sanitary conditions and veterinary certificate formats for boneless beef exports. Under the agreement, Korean exporters may ship hanwoo to Qatar provided they meet the sanitary conditions agreed upon by the two countries and satisfy Qatar's halal certification requirements.
The negotiations were triggered by a working-level meeting in April between the South Korean Embassy in Qatar and Qatar's Ministry of Public Health, at which the Qatari side indicated it was open to boneless hanwoo imports. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs then formally requested export authorization, and the two governments proceeded to negotiate the sanitary conditions and veterinary certificate formats.
Qatar's Ministry of Public Health officially registered South Korea as an eligible exporter of boneless beef in its national regulations in August, and notified the Korean side earlier this month that all procedures required for hanwoo exports had been completed. Qatar is the third halal market to permit hanwoo imports, following Malaysia in 2023 and the UAE last year.
Eligible products are chilled or frozen boneless beef. The meat must undergo a natural aging process for a set period after slaughter, and byproducts — including offal, head, feet and tail — must be removed. These are conditions Qatar set to manage the risk of foot-and-mouth disease.
The first shipment is already scheduled. Hoengseong KC, a halal-certified slaughterhouse and processing facility, plans to ship 100 kilograms of chilled beef to Qatar in early October.
The government also plans to pursue an expansion of eligible products to include bone-in cuts. Galbi and other bone-in beef are currently excluded from the export list.
"We hope this Qatar export will serve as a springboard for further expansion of Korean hanwoo into halal markets," said Park Sang-ho, the ministry's director general for international agricultural cooperation. "We will monitor initial export demand and scale up volumes accordingly, while also consulting with the Qatari side on bone-in cuts such as galbi — taking into account the domestic foot-and-mouth disease prevention situation — with a view to including them in future exports."
adastra@heraldcorp.com
