BANGKOK, May 17 – The Department of Export Promotion (DEP) has advised the Thai private sector to penetrate China’s halal food market, as international trade in foods permitted to Muslim consumers globally has reached over US$2.1 trillion.
Director-General Nantawan Sakultanak of the export agency said that according to statistics from the Islamic Association of China, it is believed that the market segment’s growth rate will be over 20 per cent annually.
In China, the halal industry overall grows about 10 per cent annually, while the Halal food’s trade value in the country amounts to US$2.1 billion.
Ms Nantawan said China’s halal food producers are small-scale entrepreneurs whose products have little value added and lack branding and technology to push their goods to international standards, so it offers an opportunity for Thai Halal merchandise to penetrate the Chinese market.
However, as China’s regions are different and Chinese markets are complex as well as highly competitive, Thai entrepreneurs should learn the differences and China’s government policy on the matter to prepare marketing strategies, while their products should have outstanding selling points to reach to Chinese customers, the director-general said.
China has 55 main ethnic minorities, ten of which are Muslim, accounting about 22 million people. The Hui people are the biggest Islamic group in the country.
The important thing of exporting halal food is to have an official halal certification.
According to Office of Commercial Affairs in China’s Xian, halal products sold in many areas in China are not yet up to standard and consumers must buy halal products in shops in big cities where such goods are properly certified.
In Thailand, halal food will be on display as a part of the THAIFEX-World of Food ASIA 2011 Fair May 25-29 at Bangkok’s Impact Arena Muang Thong Thani. (MCOT online news)
