In 2006, The Government of Pakistan's (GOP) Board of Investment gave formal approval to the U.S. Soybean Export Council, Inc (USSEC) to operate as a liaison office in the country, which it does as the American Soybean Association – International Marketing (ASA-IM).  Previous to this time, ASA had operated separately in Pakistan and elsewhere around the world. 

The USSEC / ASA-IM office, which is located in Karachi, sponsors informational activities such as seminars, workshops and demonstrations to promote soybean utilization and, particularly, the utilization of US soybeans and soybean products. Efforts are concentrated in the poultry, dairy / beef and human food sectors.

THE COUNTRY

Pakistan's population is around 163.9 million, having grown at an average rate of 3 percent per annum from 1951 through the mid-1980s. Population growth slowed to an average of 2.6 percent per annum during 1985 - 2000.  Since 2001, the country's population has been increasing at an average rate of about 2 percent per annum. Today, it is the sixth populous country in the world, and it is estimated that Pakistan's population will almost double in the next 32 years, given the current rate of growth.

Pakistan’s economy continues to gain traction as it experiences the longest spell of sustained growth in recent years.  The outcomes of the recently ended fiscal year indicate that Pakistan’s upbeat economic momentum remains on track.  Economic growth accelerated to 7.0 percent in 2006-07 on the back of robust growth in agriculture, manufacturing and services.  Overall average real GDP growth during 2003-07 was the best in many decades, and it now seems that Pakistan has decisively broken out of the low growth rut that it was in for the previous ten years. This good performance has resulted from a combination of generally sound economic policies, on-going structural reforms and a benign international economic environment. Based on the performance of half-a-decade of strong, stable, resilient and broad-based economic growth it appears that Pakistan’s economy will continue to be a high mean, low variance economy over the medium-term, depending of course on how Pakistan deals with security concerns and political unrest.

Poultry.  The poultry industry is by far the largest consumer of soybean product in the country, and investment in the poultry sector in Pakistan has surged to PR.120 billion ($19.04 billion, approximately).  Over the past 10 years, poultry meat production has showed a phenomenal increase of 113 percent, which is encouraging. Poultry sub-sectors employ around 250,000 workers and are based on an estimated capacity of over 450 million egg settings in hatcheries. According to the Livestock Wing of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (GOP), almost every family in rural areas and every fifth family in urban areas is associated with poultry production activities in one way or the other.

Feed milling capacity stands at 5.00 million tonnes annually.  Grandparent breeding farms have a capacity to produce 10.00 million parent stocks annually. The industry is seeing a shift from open-sided shed housing to controlled environmental houses; there are now more than 300 controlled house in Pakistan.  On the down side, intermittent outbreaks of Bird flu are causing huge losses to Pakistani poultry industry.

Livestock.   Thirty to thirty-five million rural people are involved in raising livestock. Livestock accounts for 46.8 percent of agricultural value-added and about 10.8 percent of the GDP.  Households typically have holdings of 2-3 cattle/buffalo and 5-6 sheep/goat per family, which helps them to derive 30-40 percent of their income. Pakistan is the fifth largest milk producing country in the world, and it is estimated that the country produces 36.6 billion liters of milk a year, the value of which is more than that of the combined value of wheat and cotton.  

Government gives high priority to livestock development through encouraging private sector involvement. The Government of Pakistan has formulated an independent Livestock Development Policy, providing a framework for accelerated development of livestock. This policy not only addresses the need of small livestock farmers for whom livestock is a supplementary income source but also includes measures to develop small and medium livestock enterprises and an incentive framework for setting up large livestock farms.  The State Bank of Pakistan has issued guidelines for livestock financing to facilitate commercial banks and financial institutions for extending credit to livestock sector. Micro credit schemes for small livestock farmers through commercial banks have started. Large financial groups are now taking an interest in establishing turnkey and vertically integrated dairy projects. 

In FY 07, ASA-IM focused on the promotion of soy usage in this sector by providing technical assistance to major feed manufacturers to start making pelleted dairy feed. Several seminars, workshops and one-on-one consultations were organized with local and dairy consultants from India.  Two poultry feed millers have started manufacturing pelleted dairy feeds, using soybean meal in their formulations, and a few farmers in Karachi – one having Asia’s largest cattle colony of 300,000 heads – have started using SBM in place of mycotoxin-contaminated cotton cake and bakery waste.  The response is creating general confidence among stakeholders about the quality of soy protein.  Marketing of U.S. hi-pro SBM continued with supported from USSEC members like Brushvale Seed, Minnesota and Wayne Knewtson, North Dakota.  However, these efforts did not result in sales, primarily due to high freight costs. 

In order to increase demand for the soybean complex in animal feeds at technical feed technology tour was arranged for five leading Pakistani farmers and feed millers, including representatives from the Karachi Dairy Farmers’ Association (KDFA) and the Peshawar Dairy Farmers’ Association (PDFA), traveled to India to gain firsthand knowledge about new feeding technologies and the utilization of soy in dairy ration. Site visits included a) a block feed manufacturing facility (Bheli) in Karnal, b) a block feed machinery manufacturing site in Delhi, c) an extruder manufacturing unit in Delhi,  and d) Warna Cooperative Milk in Kolhapur, a vertically integrated model cooperative.  Upon return, all the participants started using SBM in their formulations, and also have promoted the benefits of using soybean among other stakeholders.

Human Food: With increase of population growth in Pakistan, it is not a food insecure country; it generally has the economic ability to import the required food. On average food consumption has crossed 150 Kg per person of cereals and pulses. In recent past years, per capita income has increased from $450 to $878 and recent shortage of wheat is creating competition in reducing the protein gap. Soy proteins have the opportunity to fill the gap.

A team of four food entrepreneurs, mainly bread manufacturers, were to have taken a customized course, “Soy with Baking”, in the United States, but in the event only one, Sheikh Javed Akhter, Director, M/s Ashrafi Foods-Karachi, was able to join (the remaining candidates did not get U.S. visas on time).  Following on the training, Mr. Javed resumed the import of containerized DSF from Cargill, Rapid Cedar, Iowa, a USSEC member.  During the US visit, Cargill provided a few samples of their newly developed special TSP (texturized soy protein) for use as a chicken meat analog.  Trials would be run at chicken meat processing plant/s to test the viability of this product in the Pakistan market.  In addition, other USSEC members were approached regarding expanding the market reach of their value enhanced soy products to Pakistan.   

ASA-IM provided some assistance to The Solae Company, which began its operation in Pakistan in May 2007; test trials of TSP and isolated soy proteins with different food processors are undergoing.  ASA-IM also provided a medium scale ice cream manufacturer with information regarding use of soy proteins, and this manufacturer has gotten promising laboratory results with skimmed milk replacer (a Solae product). The leading sausage manufacturing unit in Pakistan, Euro-Frankfurter, has already started using Solae’s ISP and, it is estimated, its annual consumption will touch 24 MT.  

ASA-IM motivated traders to import tetra packed soymilk, although it is being imported from South Africa and Thailand (in containers) rather than from the United States. To make the availability of bean based soymilk and tofu, the first SoyCow™ machine was installed by Season Foods in Pakistan, with training support from ASA-IM (it is hoped that such an effort will lead to the import of U.S. food grade soybeans).  Overall high tariff on soy product imports is a constraint to growing usage.

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PAKISTAN SOLVENT INDUSTRY AND OILS SEEDS PRODUCTION

The industry has continued to grow at a fast pace. It has been estimated by the All Pakistan Solvent Extractors Association (APSEA) that crushing capacity has reached a startling three million tons and there are today a total of 110 extraction plants! This is a far cry from the dozen or so "sick" units, which existed when the industry came onto being a few years back (7-8 years ago). However, current capacity utilization is estimated at only 50 percent i.e., 1.5 MMT. Increasingly, there are plants being built near Port Qasim, which crush imported material. The plants built in Punjab province concentrate on crushing local crops. The increase in production capacity is reflected on the following imported oilseeds graph.

Group Photo Taken At Completion of TSP Workshop With Attendees.
Workshop leaders were Dr. Mian Riaz, Texas A&M; Ms. Cade Fields-Gardner, Consultant ASA's WISHH (World Initiative for Soy in Human Health) Programme; Chairman, PCSIR; Mr. Jack Norman, Country Representative of Catholic Relief Service (CRS); and Dr. R. Shahnawaz Janjua,
Consultant, ASA/IM

Dr. Mian N. Riaz, Texas A& M University briefing Mr. Maseh, leading Chef at Shoukat Khanum Cancer Memorial Hospital about TSP usage in meat dishes