Between The Lines
Halal Meat - A Global Product in a Global Market
By Hajj Abdalhamid Evans
Mar 28, 2005, 16:31

Any market is comprised of the buyers, the sellers and those in between. A look at the players in the halal meat market shows that this market is indeed a global one. The Halal Journal’s recent attendance at GULFOOD 2005 along with the 3rd Middle Eastern Food Marketing Forum in Dubai confirmed beyond any doubt some of our fundamental perceptions about the halal market.

Brian Urbick, the Director of Research at the Consumer Knowledge Centre in the UK (and also the Chairman at the Food Marketing Forum) made an interesting point in his excellent presentation “Innovate Before Its Too Late.” Innovation, he said, is not always about bringing a new product to market; it may be a new way to present an old concept or product, citing organic foods as one example, and Starbucks as another. Old products presented in an intelligent new way can become market leaders. As he was speaking, we realised that this can equally well apply to halal food.

Halal food has been the number one choice of Muslims all over the world for 1,400 years. With the emergence of global markets, and the gearing up of competition for market-share, it seems that those producers who recognise the possibilities of marketing and branding halal food in a manner that reflects the current market ‘zeitgeist’ will come out on top.

The scope of this market is worth considering for a moment. The 2 billion Muslim consumers are scattered across all continents, cuisines and income brackets. Their numbers, according to the Agricultural Institute of Malaysia, are likely to exceed 3 billion by as soon as 2010.

Halal meat production, on the other hand is dominated by non-Muslim countries such as Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, France, India, New Zealand, UK and USA. The non-Muslim world is effectively supplying the Muslim world with halal meat, making this market a truly global concern.

One noticeable trend is thast many meat producers are deciding to do away with a dual slaughtering process. Producing non-halal meat is becoming increasing perceived as irrelevant. The Muslims insist on halal, and the rest of the world seems happy enough to eat it as well, so why bother with non-halal slaughter?

An exhibitor at Gulfood 2005 informed us that 98% of the lamb exported from New Zealand was halal, and that non-halal was simply disappearing from their production lines. Other meat producers are following suit, deciding to ‘go halal’ as an effective way to increase their export share.

Halal is fast becoming a new market identifier, a new market structure. As this trend increases and strengthens, we are likely to see the call for some form of standarisation of proceedures and certification methodologies.

In the meantime, this a clearly a market that is drawing increasing interest from producers and consumers in both the Muslim and non-Muslim world.


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