The UAE Heavily Promotes 'Halal Sugar' - Chinese Manufacturers Can Follow Suit

The UAE heavily promotes 'Halal sugar' - Chinese manufacturers can follow suit

Warana Sugar, one of India's largest sugar sellers, has long had its eye on the Gulf market. Recently, through its Middle East branch, it has launched a promotion campaign in the UAE for the 'world's first sugar certified by a Halal body.'

Warana Sugar is keen to develop the emerging market for meat slaughtered according to Islamic rites. Warana's bagged Halal brand does not contain any powdered cattle bone, which some sugar refineries often use as a sweetening agent.

A senior official said this allows Muslims in the Middle East to confidently add sugar to their coffee and cakes, ensuring that no animal bone powder is consumed.

'You may wonder how sugar can pass Halal certification; it is because animal bone powder is not used in the refining, bleaching and dyeing process, whereas other sugar companies use it,' said Rajesh Vangani, head of Warana Sugar's Gulf business. 'We started getting this idea half a year ago when an Iraqi customer asked us about Halal-certified sugar.'

India, a country with more than 100 million Muslims, has had its authorities issue Warana Sugar a two-year certificate confirming that the sugar it produces meets Islamic dietary standards.

'Some refineries burn cattle bones into powder and filter it into the sugar, also known as bone char. This process makes vegetarians steer clear of refined sugar products,' Rajesh Vangani explained. This second-largest Indian sugar company's Middle East branch hopes the bone-free brand can help it capture 25% of the UAE market share by the end of 2012.

In the past four months, the company has imported nearly 45,000 tons of white sugar into the UAE, and it is awaiting approval from the UAE government to sell nationwide. Warana has already launched products in the UAE and plans to expand its business to other countries and regions in the Middle East next year.

'Warana's sugar products are now available in major supermarkets and will soon be on the shelves of large supermarkets and retail outlets throughout the UAE. Our next big targets are Saudi Arabia and Oman,' Vangani said. 'We hope to enter these two markets before Ramadan,' he added.

Sugar is a daily necessity, and Warana Sugar's development of the Middle East market also offers certain insights for Chinese manufacturers. Facing the domestic market of 30 million Muslims, Chinese sugar companies can learn from Warana Sugar's emphasis on Halal certification and further develop the domestic Muslim sugar market.