JEDDAH: The first shipment of 246,000 Somali sheep arrived at Jeddah Islamic Port on Sunday after Saudi authorities granted permission to businessmen to import live cattle from the east African country.
The government permission also stipulates that the cattle are healthy and in line with international export regulations concerning livestock.
The shipment is mainly intended for sacrificial slaughter undertaken by the Islamic Development Bank as part of a project to distribute sacrificial meat to poor people in Muslim countries.
The shipment has been imported by companies such as Al-Jabri, Fahd Al-Shalawi and Dukhayyel Al-Rifaei.
“The import will bring down cattle prices in the domestic market on the one hand and end the hardship faced by importers, particularly during the Haj season,” said Suleiman Al-Jabri of the Al-Jabri Company.
The Kingdom plans to import three million sheep from Somalia annually, Al-Jabri said, adding that he had a contractual obligation with the IDB to supply 525,000 sheep for this year’s Haj.
“We also want to steady the market price of animals to make it affordable to all people, particularly in the present Haj and Eid Al-Adha season,” he said.
