Al Islami represents UAE halal market at food forum in Taiwan

“Halal,
the global mega trend continues making waves and grabbing attention of
investors, suppliers, producers. Countries that will succeed in
entering the international halal market will be those who pay attention
to the details of quality, standards and marketing, aligned with the
most active players such as Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Singapore,
Turkey and now UAE.”

These deliberations were presented by Alex Andarakis, chief
executive officer of Al Islami Foods, an award winning halal producer
in the Middle East, as guest-speaker at the ‘Exploring the Muslim Food
Market Forum 2009’ held at the sidelines of Kaohsiung Food Show 2009,
Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

The Southeast Asian producers are vying over US$ 2.1 trillion and
growing halal food market in 185 countries and working out on long-term
plans to enter more than 1.8 billion Muslim market.

The show is jointly organized by TAITRA (the Taiwan External Trade
Development Council) and Kaohsiung City Marine Bureau under the
auspices of the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs. The exhibition
opened on November 5 and will run until November 8, 2009.

TAITRA said in a statement: “the Kaohsiung Food Show has succeeded
in arousing the interest of international buyers that come from nations
as diverse as Malaysia, Canada, USA, Australia, Japan, Singapore and
Oman.”

“This year’s show has a special guest speaker from the Middle East’s
halal food industry, Alex Andarakis, CEO at Al Islami Foods. We short
listed Al Islami due to its leading position in regional halal food
market. Alex provided great insight into the growing Halal food
industry.” the statement said.

The food show featured fresh fruits, agricultural products, meat and
dairy products, fish products, condiments, frozen and processed
products, dehydrated food stuffs, beverages, confectionaries, cookies,
health foods, leisure foods, tableware, personal food and machinery.

TAITRA is playing a leading role in the South-East-Asia region in
developing the halal market and supported Taiwan emerging as a new
player looking to invest in this fast growing market.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taiwan, realizing the
substantial halal potential, has put concerted efforts to tap into this
lucrative Islamic shariah compliant market to fetch its share from over
US$ 2.1 trillion market annually. These efforts include: patronizing
the halal events, encouraging suppliers to look into supplying to halal
market, activating Taiwan Trade Center within the Muslim markets.

The expo, which has become South Taiwan’s largest food show in just
three years, offered a much needed boost to the consumer-challenged
economy of the SEA region while helping manufactures to test the
foreign waters for additional business opportunities.

Taiwan is one of the world’s top-20 exporting countries and has a
good reputation for its food products – meat, fruits, vegetables and
drinks. In 2008, Taiwan’s food exports totaled 2.7 billion US dollars,
according to the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA).

The reason is clear: there are over 1.8 billion Muslims in the
world, or a quarter of the world population. The annual production
value of Halal food is estimated at 600 billion US dollars a year and
is growing. Taiwan, where most people are Buddhists, has 50,000 Muslims
plus 100,000 foreign Muslims, mostly Indonesian workers.

About TAITRA

Founded in 1970 to help promote foreign trade, the Taiwan External
Trade Development Council (TAITRA) is the foremost non-profit trade
promotion organization in Taiwan. Jointly sponsored by the government,
industry associations, and several commercial organizations, TAITRA
assists Taiwan businesses and manufacturers with reinforcing their
international competitiveness and in coping with the challenges they
face in foreign markets.

About Al Islami Foods

Established as CO-OP ISLAMI in 1981 to cater to the growing demand for
halal food in the Arab world, AL ISLAMI FOODS was formed as a result of
the long relentless efforts commenced in the early seventies when Hajj
Saeed Bin Ahmad Lootah instituted Dubai Co-operative Society. Starting
with its successful frozen chicken product line, CO-OP ISLAMI further
expanded its operations to include processed meat. In 1991, Dubai
Co-operative Society’s efforts were culminated by establishing its
“CO-OP ISLAMI” meat processing plant in Jebel Ali Free Zone.

This plant is considered a recognizable breakthrough as it became
the highly active producer of a variety of food products under the name
“CO-OP ISLAMI. In 2006, CO-OP ISLAMI was re-launched as AL ISLAMI in an
effort to propel the company to new heights of success. Now, Al Islami
products are considered as a quality benchmark trusted by consumers
across the UAE and the GCC, and this has made it one of the best and
most preferred brands in the region.