Halal Market

Countries across the globe,
Muslim and non-Muslim alike, have boosted income from food exports by
joining a growing consumer market force particularly Muslim and those
who needs extra guarantees on food safety and quality products.
Introducing a halal standard in 2004, Malaysia has managed to secure a
market share of billions worldwide. Seeing the potential, even
non-Muslim countries have started to take important steps to produce
food and non-food in conformity with the standard. The halal standard
does not cover just food. It also has rules regarding the transporting,
packaging, labelling and logistics of foods; preparation procedures are
also analyzed to ensure their accordance with halal standards, HACCP,
GMP and other recognized safety/quality standards and compliances.
These standards are applied to food processing plant, hotel operations,
pharmacies, cosmetics, medical and many other businesses.

The
growth of Halal food market represents a significant potential for
international companies, not only in Muslim countries but also, in
western markets with significant and growing Muslim populations among
whom Halal observance is on the increase.

The concept of halal
is not confined to food itself. Halal products and services also
include cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, clothing, financial services, and
even tour packages. With so many to offer, the trade in halal products
and services could potentially hit trillions of US dollars annually.

source: Third industrial Master Plan

Synopsis of Malaysian Halal Market : Halal Food Hub

With
the increase in global halal trade, many countries are taking several
initiatives to capitalize on the growth potential. Malaysia, as a
Muslim country, has all the elements and is well positioned to be the
centre for the promotion, distribution and production of halal food,
non-food products and other services. As the Malaysian Government is
focusing on increasing food production in the country as well as making
Malaysia an international halal hub, food-processing companies can
leverage on Malaysia’s strength in halal certification and Government’s
promotional efforts to capture the halal market abroad.

In the
Ninth Malaysia Plan, Malaysia will be developed as a stop-centre for
the certification of halal products and the Malaysia Halal
certification will be promoted worldwide. In addition, Malaysia will be
positioning as the knowledge centre for trade and investment promotion
of halal products and services by designating Malaysia International
Halal Showcase (MIHAS) and the World Halal Forum (WHF) as the
international avenue for halal trade. Other Malaysia’s initiatives are
Malaysia Kitchen, Taste of Malaysia promotion etc. Recognising the
potential of the halal industry, the Government has established the
Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC), as a body to coordinate
the overall development of the industry.

Halal Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare

According to an industry report for 2007, the Malaysia External Trade
Development Corporation (Matrade) reported the value of medicines
exported from Malaysia reached RM678 millions. Malaysian local
companies are expected to use trade links to export halal medicine to
cater Middle East growing market demand on Halal pharmaceuticals and
healthcare.

Literally, halal pharmaceutical and healthcare are
still new in Malaysia and the market demands have grown rapidly. Even
though the higher living standard has increased the demand for
convenience food, quality food and low fat products will face a higher
demand because of the rapid increase in lifestyle diseases, such as
high cholesterol, heart problems due to overweight and change in eating
habits.

Halal Tourism

According
to Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER); between 1999 and
2003, tourists from Muslim Middle East countries to Malaysia rose from
about 20,000 to more than 800,000. And this number is increasing.

In
2005, tourist arrivals from West Asia to Malaysia reached 47,646. While
these arrivals accounted for only 0.1 per cent of the total arrivals,
they accounted for 0.3 per cent of the total receipts¹.

In
another industry report, according to UAE-based Landmark Hotel
Management Co, there are plans to launch 10 shariah compliant hotels
and serviced apartments in the UAE and Saudi Arabia by the end of 2010.
Six of the 10 projects will be launched in Dubai, two in Abu Dhabi, one
in Fujairah and one in Jeddah, the company said in a statement. All the
projects will be alcohol-free, serve halal food and give a percentage
of their profit to charity.

Regional Halal Market

Asia,
in particular, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, the People’s Republic of
China, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand and West Asia, with a collective
Muslim population of approximately 1 billion, is a prime target market
for halal goods and services. Within this region, there is also fast
developing halal food production industry being positioned to supply
this lucrative market. South East Asia is becoming an important and
competitive regional market for halal products, in view of its vast
consumer market, fast developing halal food production and progress on
halal certification¹.

West
Asia, with consumers having high disposable incomes, makes it a
potential market for not only halal products but also services,
particularly travel and tourism. Tourism packages have been developed
which cater to the needs of the West Asian tourists. With limited
domestic agriculture, the expanding local food production industry
throughout the sub-region has been primarily based on meat, products,
there is considerable room for expansion in the areas of non-meat,
ready-cooked meal solutions, dairy products, baked goods, and cosmetics
and toiletries. Limitations in the development of the halal industry in
the sub-region include :

– lack of focus on developing domestic
production in foods, since the economic development of many of the
countries has been oil-driven; and
– limited or absence of
infrastructure for domestic halal certification. Most halal products
are imported. While certification is mandatory, in general any
recognised halal certificate is acceptable¹.

China

China
with over 1 billion population and more than 100 million Muslims is the
only country in the world which able to sustain economic growth rate in
excess of 8 percent annually during the past 10 years. With greater
revenue income now expected and discretionary consumer spending to
significantly grow. With this current speed of rising income, China is
expected to become the NET IMPORTER of food products, including Halal
foods in the next decade, or by 2015. In the meantime, currently China
is able to provide low cost raw materials for other Asian countries
like Malaysia for further/ additional processing. For instance,
Malaysia could buy Halal chicken meat as raw materials from China,
value-add in Malaysia and re-export to Middle-East. Usually, the gain
from value – added activities can be more than 50 percent margin rather
than with use of locally produced raw materials³.
As
China is able to provide certain cheap raw materials for now but in the
next decade China will be a net importer of Halal Food, strategic
opportunities abound for Asian countries like Malaysia to establish
very good and effective collaborations and alliances such as joint
ventures, contract manufacturing and other forms of strategic alliances
to reap benefits from future growth and demand in Halal-related
industries³.

India

India is
the largest exporters of Halal buffalo meat in the world. The Indian
companies such as Hind Agro, Allana Sons and Al Kabeer control more
than half of the market share of the total production of Indian’ Halal
buffalo meat ; India exports of Halal buffalo meat only destined to few
countries like Malaysia, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, UAE and to lesser
degree to Egypt and other small quantities to very few countries.
However, in Saudi Arabia and UAE the sales of Indian buffalo meat is
strictly for Indian and Pakistani foreign workers as the price are very
much cheaper compared to beef products from Australia, USA, New
Zealand, etc³.

Singapore

Product
Market Survey by Matrade – “Singapore imported S$3.610 billion worth of
Halal food in the year 2004. Please refer to Annex A for the detailed
import statistics. 18.75 per cent of Singapore’s import of Halal food
came from Malaysia in 2004. The value of total imports from Malaysia
amounted to S$677.101 million in 2004.” For more, please refer to Halal Market in Singapore (in PDF format)

Indonesia

Indonesia
is the largest Muslim country with more than 210 million Muslims.
However, it is not a major producing country. Indonesian Halal food
output is mostly destined for local markets and only for products such
as sashimi, canned tuna, frozen peeled shrimps are exported mainly to
USA, Japan and Europe where Halal certification is largely is not a
factor (not required) ;Indonesia is vital in the sense that the country
is home to hundred thousands of SME’s and hundreds of large
Halal-centric food manufacturers. At present, Halal certification is
not mandatory – same as Malaysia – and it is only voluntary.

Majlis
Ulama Indonesia (MUI) is the authority which release Halal certificate
where the audit, inspection and assessment is done by LPPOM –MUI; Where
there are hundreds and even thousands of Halal food manufacturers in
Indonesia, even now as the awareness for cosmetics also in the rise³.

Thailand

Thailand is among the most advanced agro-food production country in
Asia and thus, to many of their food manufacturers are willing to
become Halal-compliant to capture the growing demand for Halal
products.Thailand recently passed the Halal inspection by UAE Halal
inspection team and thus, several largest Thai’s food producers are
already approved to export to UAE and hence, to the whole GCC countries³.

Phillipines

Philippines
may yet to become an important player in the Halal market. However, in
mapping regional Halal Market potential, Mindanao is a potential
contender as production centres for several Halal raw materials such as
corn, etc for animal feed and the production of chicken meat, etc Also
in the Halal pipeline business programs within the context of BIMP-EAGA
(Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines; Eastern ASEAN Growth Area);
Autonomous
Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), a Muslim-majority province in
southern Philippines has expressed its interest in playing its part in
the Halal market. Saudi Arabia already pledged a grant of USD 1 million
to assist ARMM to boost its Halal food industry³;

Australia

Australia
is the leading producer and exporters of beef and the largest exporters
of live sheep and meat of sheep (lamb/ mutton). The safe and green
image of Australia, although at present is being challenged by New
Zealand is seen by customers worldwide as assurance that their meat
products have the highest quality and safety products. Australia also
has the highest/ best situation on animal diseases accorded by the OIE,
meaning that the country has the lowest possible animal disease such as
FMD, Newcastle disease, BSE, etc. On this reason, Australia considered
as ‘safe’ country. In terms of Halal, Australia is one of the leading
exporters of Halal beef and Halal lamb/ mutton, such as those exports
to Middle-East, Indonesia, Malaysia and many other countries (more than
40 countries). Australia also is the largest exporters of live sheep to
Middle-East, including for Hajj purposes. Australia also is the only
non-Muslim majority country which has an industry regulation concerning
‘Muslim slaughter men’, although New Zealand reportedly also has
similar regulation in place, Australia is the first and most renowned.
The existence of many Halal certification agencies and the willingness
of Australian government to take Halal matters seriously – e.g. Meat
and Livestock Australia (MLA – government agency to promote Australian
meat products) promote Australian Halal meat aggressively in the
Middle-East from its Bahrain office³.

Europe

The
Halal market in Europe is made up of more than 50 million of Muslims
with a substantial spending power of nearly USD77 billion in a year¹. Whilst France has the largest number of Muslim population in Europe³.
In United Kingdom (UK), for instance, the annual retail sales of Halal
meat are valued at £400 million, according to the recently published UK
Halal Market report by the UK Government¹.

The European Muslim market is a significant market segment: estimates put it at 25-30 million and rising².
France is the only country in Europe where its Government has caveat
the impact of the political power of Muslims in national governance and
administration. Recently, French Muslims together with Halal-industry
stakeholders and their Religious community have initiated a referendum
for Muslims to have a single body to represent their interests in live
matters such as education, access to financial system, availability of
Islamic Banking, and centralized harmonization of Halal Certification
standard , etc. The UK has a growing Muslim population of about 3.5 to
4 million with the largest concentration found in cities and region
like London , West Midland such as Birmingham, Leicester, Manchester
and Northwest Yorkshire and Humber³;.

The
UK has a growing Muslim population of two million; while at five
million or 8% of the population, France is home to Europe’s largest
Muslim community; and Germany has three million Muslim inhabitants.
There are also sizeable Muslim populations in Belgium, Norway and
Sweden, with Mohammad the first or second most popular boy’s name in
cities such as Brussels, Oslo and Malmo. Current population figures
across Europe are impressive, but the growth rates are more so.
Europe’s Muslim population, even at conservative estimates of around 25
million, increased at a rate of 140% over the decade to 2005. Muslims
make up less than 1% of the Irish population, but statistics show a 70%
increase in the community’s numbers from 2002-2006. Similarly, the
number of Muslims in Austria increased 15 fold from 1971 to 2006, and
Islam will overtake Protestantism as the country’s second-largest
religious group by 2010, according to a recent study from the Austrian
Society for International Understanding, while Belgium’s approximately
400,000 Muslims represent 4% of the total population².

United Kingdom

Boast
to have the largest Muslim community in Europe outside of France, the
growth rate of Muslim population is higher than that of its domicile
population. By 2050 , UK Muslim population is poised to equal its total
Ethnic population ! The average purchasing power of Muslims in UK is
relatively higher than that of Muslims in France. This is why there are
far larger types of Halal products available in mainstream hypermarket
such as Tesco, Sainsbury, etc, not only in London area but also in
Birmingham, Mancester and even Dublin. UK Halal Food imports are valued
at about £18B per annum. Amongst top EU exporters are Netherlands,
Ireland, France, Germany, Spain whilst the four top east Asia exporters
are Malaysia, Thailand, China, Indonesia. Major Halal products entry
modes are found predominantly controlled by small specialist
distributors based in ethnic community lines ; renown Oriental
Supermarket chains like Wing Yip , See Woo, Hoo Hing and by other Major
hypermarkets and supermarkets like TESCO, ASDA ,TAHIRA ,etc.Due to
strict EU Meat & Poultry compliance and import, regulatory
instructions , Halal food – meat – is produced by Muslim-ethnics
community especially Pakistan’s, India’s, Turk’s, etc. With lower
cost-to- labor to slaughter, the production cost is relatively lower
compared to non-Halal slaughtered meat . As such, many non-Muslim
consumers buy these Halal meat products from hundred Halal butcheries
found all over UK³.

Leading the way on the fast food
front, McDonald’s began serving Halal Chicken McNuggets and other food
items permissible to Muslims, at one of its London outlets. Demand is
strong, sales are increasing, and McDonald’s is thinking about
extending the experiment reported the Economist. Meanwhile, Boots, a UK
chemist chain, is running a trial of Halal baby food in 30 stores².
UK is also important to Malaysia as the franchise program of Jom Makan
– part of Malaysia Truly Asian Kitchen program under the 9th Malaysia
Plan – launched in 2008 for the first time in London. (Jom Makan
Kitchens are expected to grow to 200 franchised outlets all over
Europe, Australia, and USA)³;. While Tesco, which like other
supermarkets, sells Halal certified meat at some stores, is looking to
include new products, such as ready meals². Popular
Halal-food Range Products are like Paratha, Sauces, Frozen Pastry, and
Confectionaries. Malaysian companies exporting them are like Dewina
Food Industries, Prima-Agri Products, KG Pastry, Kawan Food
Manufacturing, Kart Food, PA Food, Ace Canning, Lingham³.
The UK is the largest centre of Islamic banking and finance in the
Western world. Its first specialist Islamic bank opened in 2004, and
HSBC and Lloyds now offer Sharia-compliant mortgages and accounts.
Lloyds’ research shows over 75% British Muslims want banking services
that fit with their faith, but they also want all the benefits they’ve
come to expect from banks².

Some useful links : Halal Food in Scotland, Food From Britain Buyer’s Guide 2008, Imported Food U.K by FSA, Exports and Trade by Defra, Food From Britain

Product
Market Survey by Matrade – “According to the official 2001 census,
there were 1.6 million Muslim living in Britain. The Muslim Council of
Britain (MCB), estimated the actual figure to be closer to 2.5 million
in 2005, taking into account new immigrants, non-registration and
unaccounted illegal immigrants. Muslims were the largest religious
group after Christians. Muslims comprised 3 per cent of the total
population. Around two-fifth of Muslims (38 per cent) lived in London.
After London, the regions with the next biggest share of the Muslim
population were the west Midlands (14 per cent), the North West (13 per
cent), and Yorkshire and the Humber (12 per cent). Even within these
regions, Muslims were highly concentrated spatially. Muslims made up 8
per cent of London’s population overall but 36 per cent of the Tower
Hamlets and 24 per cent of the Newham populations”. For more, please
refer to full document of Halal Market in UK (in PDF format).

France

Product
Market Survey by Matrade – “Halal market in France is valued Euros 3
billion. The Muslim population, living in France is estimated at 7
million people, of which 70% are origins of the Magreb countries
(Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia), while others are from Turkey and diverse
African Muslim origins, Comores Islands and Senegal. Muslims in France
spend 30% of their total income on food. They purchase halal food
products several times per week and about 37% of them spend between
€150 – €250 per week.” For more, please refer to full document of Halal Market in France (in PDF format).

France
has the largest number of Muslim population in Europe. In retrospect,
France is considered as ‘trend setter’ for Muslim in other European
countries. Although the characteristics of Muslims in France is
different compared to Muslims in Germany and other countries (e.g. In
Germany, the Turks represents more than 70% of Muslims while in France
the North African Muslims such as Moroccans, Algerians and Tunisians
represent about 80% of total Muslims in France). Interestingly, the
combined purchasing power of these about 7 million Muslims in France is
almost equal to the combined purchasing power of Muslims in Indonesia
plus Malaysia , Philippines and Thailand. The average/ median income of
Muslims in France is approximately between Euro 18,000 – Euro 22,000
per year or USD 30,000 – 35,000/ year, which is ten times higher than
that of Indonesia and about 5 times higher than that of Malaysia. A
point in fact is that most of Halal food manufacturers in Europe is
either located in France or UK, and only recently in the Netherlands.
Many France ‘normal’ companies such as Doux (one of the largest chicken
meat producers in Europe) has a dedicated Halal –meat slaughter and
production line³. France also actively exports Halal chicken
meat to many Muslim countries. It is estimated that more than 70
percent of the total France exports of frozen chicken meat is Halal
certified (e.g. Halal frozen whole chicken, Halal frankfurters: Doux,
Tilly Sabco, etc) and a significant majority of this is exported to
Middle-East/ GCC countries especially to UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait³. To cater to the sensitivities of affluent Muslim consumers, manufacturers of gourmet foods are producing Halal foie gras².

Netherlands

Netherland
is considered the ‘gateway’ to Western Europe. About 70 % of the total
imported consumer goods imported to Western Europe pass through the
Netherlands, especially vide Port of Rotterdam. Netherlands is also a
‘melting pot’ in the sense that this country attract among the highest
number of tourists that come from all over the world. Countries like
Thailand put a lot of commercial focus in the Netherlands. The Thais
understand, that success in promoting and selling their Thai food
products in the Netherlands, will translate into an almost guaranteed
ticket for successful en
try
into virtually any country in the Western European hemisphere. A case
in thought indeed. Halal-related business particularly foods, is
abound. With about 1 million Muslims and growing, Netherlands offers
opportunities in the various Halal industries particularly foods.
Strategically located, it also offers one of the best investments
location in terms of joint ventures, re-exports, etc. Netherlands is
well known as the logistics nerve centre of Europe. It has operational
Halal warehouse, transport and distribution services to cater for
Malaysian and other Asian Halal products. With ready and able service
platforms, Malaysian companies can benefit to take advantage of rising
demand for ethnic food (e.g. Chinese food, Thai food, Indian food, etc)
. Malaysia can position and offer its Truly Asian food concept with
availability of Malaysian Halal market centers. The use of such
dedicated Halal logistics facility will enhance and strengthen Halal
integrity for Malaysian halal consumables products export into Europe³.

Turkey

Turkey,
boasts to have many large food exporters. Many Turkish products are
exported to more than 40 countries in the world particularly in
countries where Turkish immigrants live. There are large numbers of
Turkish population in EU countries. For example, in Germany, about 70%
of total immigrants are from Turkey where in France the proportion is
about 30%. Thus, Turkey and the Turkish pe has quite influential in
determining and influencing the trade and distribution channel of Halal
products in these countries³

Middle East

Gulf Cooperative Countries (GCC)

GCC
is the largest importers of Halal products in the world, especially
Halal meat. The six member countries of GCC – Saudi Arabia, UAE,
Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman import close to 1 million MT of Halal
poultry meat and more than 200,000 MT of Halal beef. Although Saudi
Arabia imports are higher than UAE, but UAE – particularly Dubai
considered as the gateway to enter the larger GCC and even the whole
Middle-East and North African countries. It’s worth to mention that
major companies in UAE such as Al Islami, Al Kabeer, Al Areesh, etc
involve heavily in re-exports activity to other third countries, such
as other GCC countries and also to Iran, North Africa and Central Asian
countries (Armenia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc). Some
UAE companies even exports about 70 to 80 percent of their total
production to third countries, specifically to take benefits from
import duty exemption. Dubai traders also have very in depth knowledge
about market situation, regulations and consumer preferences in its
neighbouring countries and other countries in Middle-East and Central
Asia, which make them easy to do business and export to these
countries. For Malaysia, Dubai is very important as consumers in Dubai
is highly ‘adventurous’ in the sense that they are willing to try and
buy new products, including ‘ethnic’ food products.

Malaysia,
has a good standing in Dubai/ UAE and the whole Arab countries. This
makes easier opportunities for Malaysian products to be known by
consumers in Dubai/ UAE/ GCC countries. Dubai is the main gateway to
other Middle-East and Central Asian countries. Asian countries like
Malaysia’s ability to ‘capture’ Dubai market, makes it easier to make
inroads with greater market access into much larger Arab’s markets like
Saudi Arabia, etc3.

Other useful links : Middle East Analysis, Trends and Insights, Consumer Behavior and Demographics, Penetrating Middle Eastern Market – A Practical Perspective

Saudi Arabia

Product
Market Survey by Matrade – “Saudi Arabia has a 100% Muslim population
of which, 90% are Arabs, and remaining 10% are Afro-Asians. Its
population is 22.7 million, grows on average of nearly 3% annually.
Furthermore, Saudi Arabia continues to be the single largest market for
food and beverage products in the Gulf, accounting for 63 percent of
all of the region’s imports. Saudi Halal food market is estimated to
value at US$5 billion annually”. For more, please refer to Halal Market in Jeddah (in PDF format).

North America & Latin Countries

USA & Canada

USA
and Canada imposed a very strict import regiment for food products and
thus, it is almost impossible to export food (Halal) to USA and Canada.
Even Thailand is not allowed to export many food (Halal) products to
USA due to to very strict sanitary-compliance and phyto sanitary
regulations. Perceived as a trade barrier, Brazil has already lodged an
official protest to World Trade Organization (WTO, as Brazilian
products find difficulties in exporting to the USA³.
Although
the number of Muslims in USA is high, approximately 6 million;
nevertheless, they are scattered all over the USA. This makes logistics
and distribution of the product become more difficult and expensive³.
At
present, several large US meat exporters such as Tyson Foods, Pilgrim
Pride , Purdue Farms , and Midamar Corporation, have small production
and process centers for Halal products, especially chicken leg quarters
and frankfurters at affordable prices. There are Halal retail chain
shops found in the Midwest, owned by Midamar , that sell these meat and
meat-derivative products like cold cuts, nuggets, etc , products.
However, many importing countries are sceptics in the ‘ Halalness ‘
resulting in import restrictions of these meat from USA³.

Other useful links : US Exporters Guide to Europe

Brazil

Brazil
is one of major agribusiness powerhouses in the world and the biggest
exporters of Halal meat – especially Halal chicken meat to the world.
Total exports of Halal chicken meat from Brazil is more than 1.3
million MT and most of this being exported to GCC countries³.
Brazilian
Halal exporters have realized the multiplier economic –impact to have a
dedicated Halal-compliant production and processing centers. Such as in
the case of Perdigao, the largest exporters of Halal meat from Brazil³.
Brazil
has the lowest production cost of Halal chicken meat and Halal beef in
the world. Thus, it is important for ASEAN countries like Malaysia, to
open-up its market for Brazilian meat-based and meat-products, for
value-added re-exports to third countries, possibly to the GCC
countries, etc³.

References

¹The Third Industrial Master Plan 2006 – 2020, Ministry of International Trade and Industry Malaysia

²Spotlighting Europe’s Muslim consumers – Euromonitor International

³HDC International Business Development Department (IBD)

– Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Indicated as Product Market Survey)