China: Halal Food Helps Ningxia Open Up International Markets

The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwestern China showed its ambition to build itself into a global Halal food center at Sunday's China-Arab Expo.

"Good business policies and our market can attract Halal food companies from home and abroad, and at the same time form a good environment that can drive China's Halal food industry," said Zhao Yongqing, party secretary of Wuzhong.

The city currently has 176 Halal food companies. The city's total Halal output reached RMB 13.2 billion (USD 2.16 billion), a 15% increase over the previous year. Compared with the same period last year, it accounts for more than 60% of the region's overall Halal-industry value.

Covering 63 square kilometers, the park has more than 40 companies with the latest output value of RMB 3.6 billion. Well-known companies such as Ningxia Hongshanhe Food Co., Ltd., Yili (Ningxia) and Baodi Halal Food Company have played a major role in the development of the domestic Halal food industry.

"Our goal is not only the domestic market but the Arab countries in the market. Therefore, we need to establish a cultivation chain and slaughter processing to ensure the integrity of raw-material sources, so that we can expand our business to all over the world," said Gu Jianqing, manager of Baodi.

Gu said his company plans to raise three million chickens, three million sheep and eighty million cattle annually for slaughter.

"We are very optimistic about the platform Ningxia provides for us. It will provide us more convenience; once the export support facilities are complete, he hopes to sell 40% of the Halal products on the international market," Gu added.

In addition, Wuzhong in Yinchuan, Ningxia is also vigorously developing the Halal industry. By the end of 2012, Yinchuan had more than 4,800 Halal food companies and other processing or sales companies. Besides exhibiting in China, these people also showcased their products in Cairo, Dubai and Istanbul.

With about 22 million Muslims, China has rich resources such as mosques, Halal food and Muslim culture.

Ningxia's first Halal certification center was established in 2008, and more than 50 domestic Halal food companies have been certified. China has signed Halal food standards with seven countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Malaysia, supporting more and more Halal products being accepted by other countries.

To open up the international Halal food market, Ningxia's complete certification system enables domestic standards to meet the standards of Arab countries and other Muslim regions.

Moustapha Saphariny, former Palestinian ambassador to China, said that compared with other regions of China, Halal certification is Ningxia's unique advantage.

With all these conditions and advantages, Ningxia, especially Wuzhong, has great potential to become the "world factory" of Halal food, Saphariny said.