Great potential for local businesses to full tap Halal market

The assessment was made at a recent seminar discussing potential and challenges of the Halal market which was organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Food and Foodstuff Association (FFA) in coordination with relevant units

According to Ly Thi Kim Chi, Chairwoman of the HCM City Food and Foodstuff Association Currently, the global Halal food market has great potential and is growing at a fast pace across continents from Asia, the Middle East - Africa to Europe and America.

The demand for Halal products has increased sharply because of the rapid growth of the Muslim population, and reflects the increasing trend of many non-Muslims in major economies such as China and Japan, US, and EU as they meeting high standards of food safety and environment.

Roughly 62% of the Muslim population is concentrated in Asia, which brings a good opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises, Chi went on to say.

Malaysian Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City Wong Chia Chiann said that the Halal industry is one of the growing trends in the world. Currently, some Vietnamese businesses started to learn about the Halal market.

She added that a limitation of Vietnamese enterprises in entering the Halal market is that the percentage of Muslims in Vietnam is low and few of them underwent training for the Halal certification process. However, that does not mean that Vietnam does not have an opportunity to exploit the Halal market.

To develop a better Halal ecosystem in Vietnam, Vietnamese businesses should employ Muslim personnel/experts who will join develop Halal-relating policies, she said.

In the long term, Malaysia will propose building domestic personnel and experts on the Halal certification process, especially in the Muslim community. Malaysia stay ready to share its experience in building a better Halal ecosystem in Vietnam, she added.

Nguyen Tuan, Deputy Director of the Trade and Investment Promotion Centre of Ho Chi Minh City, said that the world's Halal food market currently serves about 2 billion people. The global Halal economy hit US$ 7 trillion last year, and is projected to increase to around US$10 trillion by 2027.

Halal refers to any action or behaviour that is permissible in Islam and includes things like slaughtering animals for meat in a strictly specified manner.

Notably, the Southeast Asia - South Asia - South Pacific region is a potential export market for Halal products, with a Muslim population of roughly 860 million people. This is the largest Halal food consumption area in the world with about US$470 billion.

Despite having great strength in exporting agricultural and aquatic products and a geographical advantage as being located near large Halal consuming markets, few Vietnamese enterprises have exported products to the Halal market.

The market for Halal products is widely distributed around the world, from Muslim to non-Muslim countries.

However, the fact that Vietnamese enterprises’ food import and exports to the Halal market is only the first step to explore.

Every year, Vietnam has about 50 Halal certified companies involving in trading main products such as seafood, beverages, canned food, confectionery, vegetarian food and pharmaceuticals.