Following an official statement by the Algerian Government published on 14th June, all dairy imports required a halal certification that had to be issued or endorsed by the Grande Mosque de Paris or a certification agency approved by the Grande Mosque de Paris. This requirement was only relevant for EU market players, as it was not in effect for New Zealand or South American market players. However, after several weeks of uncertainty about how this will impact the dairy trade flow and several large EU companies and Algerian companies lobbying against the legislation, as of this week, milk powders no longer require the halal certification. However, as of now, the certification requirement remains in place for other dairy commodities, such as whey powders and cheeses.
Several market sources are expecting that the end of the certification requirement for milk powders indicates that a milk powder tender will be published in the coming days. One source commented, “we believe that the tender was on hold due to the certification issues; this pushed several EU players to the point where they were not willing to offer. However, the tenders need to compete to achieve the best price for the buyers. We think it is only a matter of time until we see some movement.”
Mintec will monitor this situation closely and publish further updates during the coming weeks.
