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Last Updated: Jun 25th, 2007 - 17:07:26 |
Halal food industry set for changes
By Shakir Husain, Staff Reporter
Dubai: New issues relating to certification and shipment of halal food will have a major impact on both importers and producers, according to an industry expert.
Global halal standards which have begun to take shape will affect both the Muslim world and major food producers such as Australia, Brazil, India, New Zealand and the US.
"Currently there are no harmonised halal standards. It is a free for all in a global market," said Abdul Hamid Evans, a Kuala Lumpur-based halal industry expert, a director at media and market intelligence company KasehDia.
Citing a Canadian government study, he said the world halal food industry was an estimated $150 billion (Dh551.7 billion). Industry estimates say the GCC states import about 80 per cent of the halal food they consume.
Besides Arab countries, which rely on imports for most of their food needs, Europe and the US are also major markets for the halal industry.
Evans said if halal food companies in Muslim countries do not adopt certification practices, they will lose out in the world market. "If Carrefour is looking to put 300 halal products in its supermarkets, it is obviously looking at products that are halal certified. They are looking in Southeast Asia [for these products], they are not looking in the Middle East because they cannot get halal certification."
However, the Middle Eastern market is moving slowly, he said, compared with Southeast Asia - and even Europe which has about 30 million Muslims. "In Muslim-majority countries they don't pay that much attention to halal certification. It is in the mixed-religion, multi-cultural societies that halal becomes much more of an issue, and that is where the Halal market is really being driven."
Countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines are pushing forward the development of global halal standards. Food produced in countries like Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Middle East is not necessarily certified as halal, he said.
"European, South African and Southeast Asian producers go to great lengths to get their products halal certified if they are exporting to Muslim countries," Evans said.
He said consumers of halal food are demanding standards be adopted in the whole supply chain. "They are demanding transparency and halal compliance during transportation. This affects shipping and logistics companies. This is emerging as a new kind of major market sector."
KasehDia are the publishers of The Halal Journal, the business magazine for the global Halal market, as well as producers of Halal Journal TV, a weekly programme screened in Malaysia.
In addition, KasehDia are the organisers of The World Halal Forum being staged in Kuala Lumlpur from 8-10 May. "The World Halal Forum is the first ever high-level industry driven Forum for the Halal indsutry," said Evans, "This is the arena where the future of the Halal industry will be shaped."
Details are available at www.worldhalalforum.org
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