In a bid to curb skyrocketing prices caused by a growing shortage in the domestic market, the government recently decided to resume livestock and red meat imports through the state-owned Meat and Fish Institution (EBK). Soon after this decision, the institution held two separate tenders to restart livestock imports to Turkey; however, both failed to attract much notice.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced a series of initiatives designed to boost America’s relations with entrepreneurs in countries with large Muslim populations. Clinton’s remarks came at the end of a two-day summit on entrepreneurship. A follow-up summit is scheduled to take place next year in Turkey.
There is nothing new about’ alcohol free’ wine. What will be important is how it is marketed. And was it produced as wine originally and then had the alcohol taken out, or is it just a type of grape juice? The controversial issue will be – should they still call it wine if they want to sell it to Muslims? There were complaints about calling pork bacon substitutes beef or turkey ‘bacon’, as the word itself implies it is haram. They now market them as ‘breakfast strips’, owing to complaints.
Appreciation of palm oil in Turkey is seen increasing due to growing population and rising exports of halal foods.
A roadmap on food security is
expected to be discussed among Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC)
leaders when they converged at the first economic summit of the
Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC)
held here.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said during one of
the sessions, they have agreed on a roadmap for food security which
included the setting up of a task force at the secretariat level.
Malaysia and Turkey have agreed to
join forces to develop uniform halal global standards, a move that can
pave the way for the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) countries
to tap the growing halal market which currently is dominated by
non-Muslim countries.
One of Turkey’s biggest
financial institutions, the Asya Bank, has indicated an interest in
forging cooperation with Islamic banks in Malaysia, namely Maybank Bhd
and CIMB Bank. The aim is to establish an Islamic Bank in Turkey.
“Poultry exports have exploded recently. Our annual poultry exports,
which used to stand at 25,000 tons annually, increased to 100,000 tons
within the past couple of years,” said Necmettin Çal??kan, general director of Beyza Piliç, a
poultry producer based in the southern city of Adana. Many Muslim countries
prefer to import poultry from Turkey, he added.
Working
under the supervision of the Islamic Development Agency (?KT), the
Halal Standards Preparation Committee, established by experts from 52
countries, has recently produced a draft of mutually agreed upon
standards. The newly prepared standard draft was reviewed by experts in
a meeting in Ankara this April. It is expected that the halal standards
will be given their final shape following a conference to be held in
?stanbul in October. The Foreign Trade Undersecretariat (DTM), the
Turkish Standards Institute (TSE) and Turkish Accreditation Agency have
all taken part in the committee’s deliberations.
Following
the global trend in the certification of halal foods, goods prepared in
accordance with Islamic law, the Food Auditing and Certification
Research Association (G?MDES) has become the first body to issue halal
certificates in Turkey, currently for foodstuffs that are being
exported outside the country.
HALALISTEXPO
- Halal Products Trade Fair will be held at Istanbul Exhibiton Center
between August 13th and 16th. It is expected that hundreds of companies
from around the world will join Halalistexpo and 3 billion dollars
worth of trade is targeted.
NB Dates changed to 4-7 Feb 2010.
See www.halalistexpo.com for details
Turkish
State Minister for foreign trade Kursad Tuzmen has held separate
meetings with Iranian Agriculture Minister Mohammed Reza Eskandari and
Petroleum Minister Qolam Hosein Nozari in Tehran. At the meeting with Eskandari, Tuzmen said that Turkey and Iran should increase agricultural trade. Tuzmen said the two countries could work together in halal food.
The 24th session of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial
Cooperation (COMSEC) of the Organization of the Islamic Conference(OIC)
that was held in Istanbul, Turkey from 20 to 24 October 2008. In
addition to trade and investment among the member states, economical
cooperation strateg, solutions to combat poverty and stagnation, the
specification of the criterions in Halal food in Islamic countries were
issues of the discussion.
