Halal market growing at rapid rate across every continent from Asia to the Middle East-Africa to Europe and America.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) coordinated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to organise a forum “Potential of global Halal food market and opportunities for Vietnam”.
Halal foods are “permitted” and “legal” products under Islamic Law with extremely detailed and strict standards.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, this was the first time the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had cooperated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to co-organise a forum on the halal food market.
The event aimed to raise awareness about this market’s potential; the importance of halal certification and measures to help Vietnamese businesses participate effectively in the global halal food market.
The global halal food market has great potential and is growing rapidly across every continent from Asia to the Middle East-Africa to Europe and America. The world has nearly two billion Muslims with halal food spending forecast at US$14 billion by 2020. This amount is forecast to grow more than 10 times to US$15 billion by 2050.
“This is a great opportunity for countries like Vietnam to export more food and agricultural products,” the Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasised.
However, so far, the participation of Vietnamese businesses in the Halal food market has been limited. According to the Vietnam Halal Centre, Vietnamese enterprises initially exported some halal products. Still, they can only meet one-third of the demand from countries in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Many businesses still face difficulties in issuing halal certification. They lack information about the market, industry and consumer culture to fully participate in the halal market, especially in Muslim countries.
Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son expressed his wish that the forum would discuss the global halal food market’s real potential, not only from countries with a majority Muslim population, but also from countries with a smaller such population.
Islam is widespread in Europe, America and some Asian countries. Thereby, identifying new trends and demand for halal products is vital, not only limited to food but also in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and many other halal services such as tourism.
