MLBA13: February / March 2010

 

 

 

 

According to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) fact sheet, the world's Muslim population stands at 1.6 billion, which is about a quarter of the total 6.78 billion.

 

China, with its Muslim population at around 26 million, has one of the largest population of Muslim nationals among the non-Muslim countries. The sheer volume of Muslim population internationally and locally speaks for itself the importance of the Halal meat markets, which have strict requirements to abide by for their meat products.

 

Adding to that is the buoyant outlook of the Middle East economy, which consists of mostly Muslim countries, even after the recent credit default of Dubai World, one of the largest government-owned conglomerate, and two vast family-owned conglomerates in Saudi Arabia.

 

By the end of 2008, there were 5,411 designated Halal production enterprises in China, accounting for 30% of enterprises churning out products for the ethnic minority. The types of food produced by these designated Halal producers include meat products, dairy products, oil products, pasta, food additives and others. In fact, China still needs a large number of Halal-certified firms considering the vast Muslim population in the country - which means, the Halal food industry in China is potentially lucrative.

 

Areas inhabited by the Muslim people including Xinjiang, Ningxia and Gansu are the traditional markets for Halal food as northwest China is primarily Muslim-populated. Nonetheless, large Halal slaughterhouses are scarce, as compared to northern China. In the southern region, even fewer large Halal slaughterhouses exist due to the population structure, and hence its consumer habits.