Qatar Company for Meat and Livestock Trading (Mawashi) will provide the local market with 200,000 head of livestock, including 100,000 Australian sheep, during this Ramadan.

The other livestock will be from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, Ethiopia, Georgia and Somalia. However, Saudi and Jordanian sheep are subsidised for Qataris only, and every local is entitled to two heads of sheep during the month of Ramadan.

Mawashi sales and marketing director Jamil Omran said yesterday that frozen meat of Pakistani, Sudanese, Kenyan origin will be available also in addition to other types required by different expatriate communities living in Qatar. He also stressed that locals will get their sheep slaughtered.

Dr Dafaala Abdulghani, deputy director of slaughterhouses department said that Mawashi in co-operation with the Consumer Protection Department at the Ministry of Business and Trade has launched the initiative to fulfill the meat needs of Ramadan at affordable prices, which are even less than the original cost to stabilise the market.

He said that Mawashi will receive a cargo of 50,000 Australian sheep next week as part of its preparations for Ramadan; other cargoes will arrive in Doha during Ramadan.

Abdulghani pointed out that Mawashi has raised the number of its slaughterhouses staff to meet the anticipated high demand. New equipment has been also provided.

“Veterinary control will be supplied before and after the slaughtering process to guarantee the quality of the products,” he said, indicating that Mawashi has contracted with a private company to lift the waste from the slaughterhouses and a security company to organise the process.

Abdulghani said that Mawashi will keep a reserve of 10,000 sheep, just in case to meet any surge in demand.

Starting from July 15 until the end of Ramadan, the slaughterhouses will work from 5am to 5pm daily at full capacity. Carcasses will be delivered to homes after Iftar. This year, three slaughterhouses will be functioning in Doha at a rate of 2,000 head of livestock.