The licence was granted on Monday after extensive consultation by the abattoir with the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service and the NSW Food Authority and will allow GM Scott to export to a number of countries including Albania, Algeria, Bahrain, Cuba, Egypt, Fiji, Ghana, Indonesia, Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Tuvala, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.

Already GM Scott has established relationships to export to Tonga and Jordan. A representative from Tonga will visit the abattoir today and a delegation of Jordanians is to be welcomed early next week.

GM Scott owner Barry Noble said the company will begin to export within a fortnight.

“We are very excited about this,” Mr Noble said, adding that the expansion of GM Scott into the export market has been a team effort, with a number of his younger staff members stepping up to take on vital roles in obtaining the licence.

With a strong background in the export area, it was a natural step for GM Scott CEO Len Jones to introduce international activity to the company.

“We wanted to ensure we had a major client on the export side as well as on the domestic side to ensure the future expansion of the company,” Mr Jones said.

“We see this as a positive step in ensuring GM Scott’s future,” he added.

A new piece of equipment purchased by GM Scott which allows lambs to be packed with extended (110 days) of shelf life, along with the new licence, has encouraged a company which exports to Jordan and Bahrain to set up an exclusive relationship with GM Scott.

The exporter will deal solely with GM Scott and operate out of the Cootamundra site, providing a great start to GM Scott’s export plans.

“It gets the ball rolling straight away,” Mr Noble said.

He said, even with the new export arm of the business, the abattoir will continue to focus on domestic clients, the largest of which is Woolworths.