The halal consumer spending of about 1.8 Muslims worldwide exceeded $2.1 trillion in 2017 – the Thomson Reuters’ produced DIEDC’s State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2018/19 uncovered in its latest edition.
Food and Beverages ($1,300bn); Clothing and Apparel ($270bn); Media and Entertainment ($209bn); Travel ($177bn); Pharmaceuticals ($87bn); and Cosmetics ($61bn) were the largest Muslim lifestyle sectors for the year.
With almost 62% of the global Muslim spend – halal food and beverages (F&B) continued to remain the largest Muslim expenditure, growing at 6.1% and is estimated to reach $1.9 trillion by 2023, the report forecasted.
The Largest halal F&B spending countries in 2017 were: Indonesia ($170bn); Turkey ($127bn); Pakistan ($118bn); Egypt ($86bn); Bangladesh ($76bn); Iran ($63bn); Saudi Arabia ($51bn); Nigeria ($47bn); Russia ($41bn); and India ($38bn).
Malaysia is leading the global halal market – exporting $10.9 billion of halal-certified products, including $8.6 billion of halal foods in the last year. Its national flight carrier, Malaysian Airlines, was the first in the world to provide in-flight halal meals on board.
Its dynamic Islamic finance industry, robust Islamic investor biome, and strong and comprehensive halal standards helped Malaysia to spearhead the Global Islamic Economic Indicator (GIEI) for the fifth-consecutive year.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia were the next three leading countries in the index.
Jordan jumped six places to stand 11th, just behind Brazil in halal food standings. Jordanian growth was backed by its double-digit growth in the exports of halal food and beverages products to the 57-membered OIC countries.
With intra-OIC trade of $250 billion and $1.8 trillion in imports across the OIC – Islamic trade finance was valued at just $186 billion in 2016 by the investigation in a global trade industry of $12.3 trillion for the same year.
In customized categories, Pakistan was completely wiped out from top-10 Halal Travel, Modest Fashion; and Halal Media and Recreation and was placed only 8th in Halal Food; 7th in Islamic Finance; and 5th in Halal Pharmaceuticals and Cosmetics.
Halal food exports by Islamic countries totaled $124.8 billion in 2017, while imports summed at $191.5 billion – vegetable products ($92.5bn); food processing inputs ($63.2bn); and meat and live animals ($35.9bn).
The halal food and beverage imports of $191.5 billion by (Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) state nations is gaining traction from new contenders to take lead in this growing market, with China leading the charge.
At the same time, Although Muslim life-style spending accounted for 12% of the global expenditure, the aggregate Islamic economy private investments totaled only $745 million in the last four years – less than 1% of the Global private and capital investments of $595 billion.
Particularly, China – through its ambitious Silk Road trade project – has a great potential to become the world leader in the exports of halal products, with its substantial involvement with 28 of OIC member states.
In the Chinese provinces of Xinjiang, Gansu, Xian, and Lanzhou alone, there are nearly 5,000 halal food companies – to gear up China to become a major halal food exporter.
Thailand and Philippines are also expected to disrupt the halal food market – with Thailand making world-leading Halal Research Center and Philippines to develop Asia Halal Center, 100-hectar processing facility.
With one-fourth of the global population, Muslims countries have a boundless opportunity in the halal food and beverages market. Though leading food brands and food producers are seated in the United States, Great Britain, and China- however OIC countries have also joined the fray to tap into local demand and to export.
For instance, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, the runners-up in GIEI, are pursuing to strengthen their central role in the halal food industry and have started to work together by setting-up a halal corridor.
According to the Salam Gateway calculation, the UAE was the net importer of live animals and meat in 2016 – with nearly 60% of its live animals, meat, fish, and other products of animal-origin came from seven countries.
Of UAE’s live animals and their products imports of $3.4 billion – Brazil and Australia together supplied around 26.5%. India (12.6%); New Zealand (8.4%); United States (5.5%); Pakistan (3.6%); and France (2.8%) were the other major suppliers.
The halal food industry is growing rapidly and is set to exceed $1 trillion mark by 2020. Several conglomerates such as Nestle, KFC, and OIC’s Savola Group and Indofood are taking-up this enormous opportunity.