Entering the Promising Halal Market, South Korea Faces Many Obstacles

South Korea wants to gain a foothold in the Halal export market business in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Although some Korean enterprises now export Halal-certified products, many enterprises find this path is not easy.

News from Lim Yun-suk (editor-in-chief of Korea's Asia News channel): In South Korea, when people mention seafood, the first word that comes to mind is Busan. Located in southern South Korea, this port city delivers large amounts of seafood to South Korea every day and also exports large amounts of seafood to the world. South Korea has begun exporting Halal-certified food, such as chicken, but the export volume is far less than that of ordinary squid and mackerel. The first thing South Korea exported was a simpler seafood product—seaweed, which is especially loved by Koreans, particularly women who have just given birth. South Korea's Gijang Mulsan company is famous for producing seaweed; its chairman, Kim Yang-chun, said its products have obtained Halal certificates and he hopes to further increase its export volume, but Mr. Kim does not know where to start. Mr. Kim said: 'I discovered that in the Middle East there is something called a Halal certificate, so I thought if my products could obtain a Halal certificate, I could export my products to the Middle East, but after obtaining the certificate I found that everything has just begun.' Several other Korean enterprises encountered the same situation; they found that after obtaining a Halal certificate everything has just begun, and there is still a long way to go.

Since Korean President Park Geun-hye visited the Middle East early this year, the word 'Halal' has attracted increasing attention. To help Korean enterprises like Gijang Mulsan obtain Halal certificates and enter the Middle East market, the city of Busan even set up a dedicated team to handle this matter. Riding this trend, South Korea's next step is to organize a dedicated team of science and technology elites to support Korean cosmetics entering the Middle East market. Team leader Kim Han-ji said: 'Cosmetics currently do not mandatorily require a Halal certificate, but when exported to the Middle East, product labels will be carefully examined to determine what raw materials are used. If these cosmetics can apply for a Halal certificate, Muslim consumers will feel more assured when purchasing.'

Through these steps, South Korea aims to further expand its influence in the Muslim market, which accounts for 23% of the world's total population.