January 2, 2013

China is opening up to the Arab world by focusing on increasing halal meat exports.

The Arab world is an increasingly enticing market for Chinese exports and a potential source of investors for Chinese projects. Middle Eastern countries are also some of the closest positioned to help develop China's western provinces, which have fallen far behind its flourishing eastern coastal cities during the past three decades of economic boom. Importantly, China also wants to protect and strengthen its access to the Middle East's oil and energy resources, which are fueling the country's economic growth.

In the northwestern province of Ningxia, frozen packs of halal meat produced here can help build economic bridges with the Middle East and there are plans to eventually turn the province into a financial hub for trade with the Arab world.

The Yinshun company's slaughterhouse and meat factory on the outskirts of town, for instance, shipped 125 tons of halal meat last year to the Middle East, but it is in pursuit of deals that could increase that figure more than 10 times over, officials said.

But there have been some obstacles to increasing its exports, chief among them getting its halal meat certified under the byzantine and often-protectionist national laws of many Arab states.