Trends
PHILIPPINES: Filipino Muslims Find Eating Space
For the five million or so Filipino Muslims, their homeland is a gastronomic challenge. Given the country’s predominantly Catholic population and the heavy influence of Chinese and American cuisines, much of the country’s dishes include pork, which Muslims cannot consume. Exacerbating the situation is the fact that most food establishments, even those located in urban centres, have limited or no knowledge of the Halal standards to be observed in food preparation. Regrettably, not a lot of Filipinos are aware of these Islamic tenets and standards. Even in areas with significant Muslim populations, finding food establishments that serve Halal certified foods can be a daunting task. This is true even in major cities.
USA: Tapping a growing Halal market
Investors with an eye on the Islamic world have witnessed parallel growth in two industries serving Muslims worldwide: Halal products and Islamic finance. Halal — Arabic for “allowed” — signifies a product created in adherence with Islamic guidelines. Halal products are spread across several industries, including foodstuffs, cosmetics, fashion and health care. Islamic finance is banking that follows Muslim precepts, such as the banning of interest on savings and loans. Intended to serve more than one billion Muslims across the world, both markets boast compelling figures. Global Islamic finance is now considered to be a nearly USD1 trillion industry, while as of last year, the worldwide Halal market was worth an estimated USD630 billion. That includes Europe and North America, which account for 12% of the global Halal market. The growth of these industries has spurred some investors to develop new financial products that combine bits of both, including Halal food indices and equity funds.
USA: Iowa Muslims say backlash is real and hurtful
Following 9/11, long-standing relationships eased unwarranted backlash for Muslims in Iowa, but the same hasn’t held true elsewhere, members of the Islamic community say. “Prior to 9/11, Islam was never viewed as a threat,” said Bill Aossey, 69, of Cedar Rapids, president of Midamar Corp. “Why, after Sept. 11, because of the acts of a few individuals, has the administration demonized a billion and a half people around the world?” Aossey points to doctors, teachers and Rockwell engineers among the many Muslims in Cedar Rapids, where the Islamic community dates back to the 19th century. The Mother Mosque of America — believed to be the oldest mosque in North America — was completed in 1934 at 1335 Ninth St. NW. “The history of Islam in Cedar Rapids is well-established,” Aossey said, adding that national media and the previous presidential administration painted Muslims with an adversarial stereotype. While Cedar Rapids remains an open and welcoming community, Aossey said, he cited failed efforts to start a Muslim youth camp at nearby Coralville Lake as fallout from the stereotyping. Aossey said restrictions placed on the project after the national backlash made it difficult to build the camp as a place where children could play and learn.
SPAIN: Healthy growth of international tourism in first half of 2011
International tourism grew by almost 5% in the first half of 2011 totalling a new record of 440 million arrivals. Results confirm that, in spite of multiple challenges, international tourism continues to consolidate the return to growth initiated in 2010. International tourist arrivals are estimated to have grown by 4.5% in the first half of 2011, consolidating the 6.6% increase registered in 2010. Between January and June of this year, the total number of arrivals reached 440 million, 19 million more than in the same period of 2010.
U.S.A: Valuing Nature's Services Today Is an Investment in the Future
Countries around the world are embracing "payments for ecosystem services" (PES) as a verifiable approach to protecting biological diversity and mitigating climate change, according to research conducted by the Worldwatch Institute for the publication Vital Signs Online. PES is financial arrangements designed to protect the many benefits that are provided by the natural environment. They include payments for projects that invest in biodiversity and watershed protection, ecosystem restoration, and carbon capture in forests.
Halal market witnessing significant growth worldwide
Al Islami Foods confirmed that the size of the global Halal market reaches USD651 billion annually, while the volume of Halal market, including Islamic financing reaches USD2.1 trillion annually. Al Islami Foods, in a report on the Halal market, drew to the importance of “development that commensurate with its expansion to include major countries and communities in the world, the sector provides many possibilities for investors including the areas of food companies to contribute in”. The Chief Executive Deputy, Hamid Badawi, stressed on the importance of creating global standards for the Halal industry as a step towards transforming it to a global economic power, as well as strengthen efforts to provide a “global certificates for Halal” according to these criteria. He said that “creating legislation to regulate the global Halal industry is one of the most prominent factors that enhance the performance of this growing sector worldwide”.
EUROPE: Uncommon alliances - Muslim and Jew, left and right
In October, the Dutch Senate will consider the ban on ritual slaughter enacted by the parliament’s lower house in June 2011. Self-described as “an institution that pays little heed to ideas which happen to be fashionable at the time,” the Senate has no one party that holds a majority. It will therefore be interesting to see whether it is able to protect religious freedom or succumb to the pressure to limit it through this law. The banning of religious ritual slaughter of animals has deeply offended observant Jews and Muslims in the Netherlands, where the legislation passed by a margin of 116 to 30 votes. Effectively banning Halal (permissible according to Islamic law) and kosher meat according to both religions’ traditions and dietary laws, the legislation was proposed by parliamentarian Marianne Thieme, the leader of the Party for the Animals, out of concern for cruelty to animals. The bill finally passed with an amendment allowing ritual slaughter on the condition that firm scientific evidence is provided within five years to the European Food Safety Authority, proving that slaughter without pre-stunning causes animals no unnecessary suffering. Jewish and Muslim communities are unhappy with the compromise, saying that it puts the future of religious practices into the hands of scientists and avoids the issue of religious freedom. This is a bizarre state of affairs in a pluralist European society.
AUSTRALIA: Call for meat slaughter method labelling
Australian meat should be labelled according to the slaughtering techniques, a Liberal senator has told parliament. South Australian senator Corey Bernardi told the Senate that many people had been appalled by footage of Australian cattle being processed at Indonesian slaughterhouses. Some might have ethical problems with eating meat slaughtered according to religious rituals in Australia such as Halal or Kosher meat. Senator Bernardi said he wanted labels on packaging to explain whether meat had been slaughtered according to rituals and whether stun guns were used.
UNITED KINGDOM: Middle Eastern visitors favour Westfield London
After early summer spending in the Capital, many Middle Eastern visitors return to their home countries to begin Ramadan. July has seen a large influx of Middle Eastern shoppers to Westfield London shopping centre, while retailers have reported uplift in Middle Eastern customers mainly from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, including members of Gulf Royal families as regular Westfield London visitors. Myf Ryan, General Marketing Manager, Westfield UK comments: “Westfield London continues to trade very well with double digit growth figures in both turnover and footfall year on year, with the second week in July being the busiest week of the year so far. Tourist visitor numbers were visibly up and in the lead up to Ramadan We have seen a marked increased in brand-conscious Middle Easterners flocking to our luxury shopping hub, The Village. Since opening, Westfield London has attracted a large number of Middle Eastern visitors but this summer has exceeded visitor number from previous years. The designer labels that we house within The Village are notably popular, particularly quintessential English brands. Westfield London has firmly established itself on the London tourist circuit and the Middle Eastern market is incredibly important to Westfield London.”
OPINION: Global brands, Islamic values
The Islamic world is rapidly going through a paradigm shift as far as brands and consumerism are concerned. Paul Temporal’s book might well serve as a gospel for many multinational corporations that have hitherto believed in formulating a marketing strategy based on a SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities and threats) analysis or by identifying their target customers. As more and more transnational companies look at expanding their footprints in the global Islamic market, which accounts for around 23 per cent of the world’s population and is projected to grow to about 35 per cent in the next 20 years, brand managers and marketing heads need to study and analyse the religion that dictates so much of public life and its associated values.