December 14, 2020

German food companies increase investment in halal production in 2020

In 2020, more German companies in the food, pharma and cosmetics industries invested in halal production to remain competitive in export markets, Salaam Gateway reported.

According to Günther Ahmed Rusznak, founder and CEO of Islamic Information Documentation and Certification GmbH (IIDC), an independent inspection centre, this is a trend he testifies to, despite the COVID-19 pandemic slowing global economic growth.

The centre covers the European market via offices in Germany, France, Austria, and Hungary.

"I am amazed. I thought that we'd experience a business setback, but apparently halal exports are not affected," Rusznak said.

His experience is in line with the latest findings from the State of the Global Islamic Economy Report findings from DinarStandard: with a forecasted decline of 0.2%, the COVID-19 crisis will not result in a significant drop in Muslim food expenditure for 2020.

In 2019, Germany increased food product exports to the UAE by 7.8% to 268 million euros (US$323 million), making it the country's second-largest market in the Gulf, after Saudi Arabia (US$588 million). Dairy products (US$66 million) is one of the leading product groups.

The Salaam Gateway report gave particular mention to Germany's largest breeder and processor, PHW Group, which focusses on its poultry brand Wiesenhof. Nine of the brand's eleven poultry processing plants have been halal-certified.

With over 7,000 employees and 1,000 farmers, the third-generation family business recorded 2.68 billion euros (US$3.24 billion) in turnover in the 2018/19 fiscal year.