Industry News

The China (Qinghai) International Halal Food and Products Exhibition, attracting exhibitors from 37 countries and regions, recently concluded. The exhibition generated a cumulative total of US$610 million in on-site transactions, contracts, orders, and letters of intent, a 22% increase over the previous edition. Seven new countries and regions were represented, and the number of international booths also increased by 25%.

Many Chinese exhibitors expressed their desire to expand into the international market. Participants and experts from home and abroad generally agreed that the global halal product consumer market is growing, and China should accelerate its entry into the international market to seize business opportunities.

Western China, a region with a large Muslim population, enjoys a certain advantage in exporting halal products, and many provinces and regions are focusing on exporting these products to gain a foothold in the international market. For example, in Qinghai, increasing halal product exports has become a development goal for many local governments and businesses. In Ningxia, home to the world's largest concentration of Hui Muslims, the development of the halal industry has become a key breakthrough in its "opening up to the west" initiative.

With the world's Muslim population now exceeding 1.5 billion, the international halal food market holds enormous potential. According to statistics, global halal food trade exceeded $650 billion last year and is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. However, China's annual halal food exports are currently relatively low.

Samira, a researcher at the Iranian Halal Research Center, said that many halal countries rely heavily on imports for halal food, and China, as the "world's processing factory", has the strength to become a base for halal food processing and production.

Wang Xihui, chairman of the Qinghai Provincial Trade Promotion Committee, said that China's western region has good ethnic and resource advantages, and also has obvious geographical advantages in the "Silk Road Economic Belt". Judging from the current production capacity of the halal industry in the western region, it can achieve exports and become bigger and stronger.

Regarding how Chinese halal products can leverage their advantages and increase exports, Li Ziran, director of the Halal Industry Research Institute at Ningxia University, believes that although China's halal industry has developed rapidly in recent years, it still has shortcomings in integrating with the international market. The industry itself is scattered and has limited access to international halal certification.standardIt was difficult to make a breakthrough and the export of products was once blocked.

Li Wenming, one of the founders of the "Clean Food Exhibition" and head of the Trade Promotion Center of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, told reporters that the obstacles to China's HalalThe main reasons why the industry cannot share the "big cake" of the international market include the small scale, low brand awareness and lack of leading enterprises of domestic halal food companies, which restricts their export capacity.

The halal industry has not leveraged its strengths. Li Wenming believes China should learn from Malaysia, focusing on strengthening brand building, improving technical standards and management, and leveraging its advantages of abundant raw materials and low labor costs to accelerate its efforts to capture the international market.

In addition, many Chinese halal industry entrepreneurs have expressed that if they can break through the certification barrier, they still hope to open the door to the international market.

Experts explain that to address the long-standing issue of domestic halal products struggling to gain international recognition, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission is spearheading the development of the "China Halal Product Certification Standard." Simultaneously with the development of the national standard, the State Council Legislative Affairs Office is drafting the "Halal Food Management Regulations."

Wang Xihui said: "Accelerating the export of halal products requires the joint support of various government departments, as well as the cooperation of enterprises." The heads of some leading halal food export companies emphasized that expanding into the international market requires a good foundation. While ensuring product quality, it is necessary to strengthen technological investment and market research to ensure that production and sales are in line with each other.

"China has a profound culinary culture, and I hope that more and more Chinese elements will soon appear in the world's halal food," said Mohamed Ben Salah, Economic and Trade Counselor of the Tunisian Embassy in China.