Halal: an increasingly popular merchandise

Welcome Algeria as honor guest for the year 2010 with 13 enterprises participating in the International Halal Exhibition in Paris. The success of this year’s expo is a true reflection of the changes in store shelf space.

Amine Esseghir - Paris, Eurojar

The technical workshop organized in March 2009 by Algex (the National agency for export promotion) and Optimexport (a programme for reinforcing export capacities of Algerian SMEs) at Alger Business School was just a foretaste of the importance of Halal ranges and its capacity to constitute a significant export merchandise for Algerian producers. In fact, the Algerian food industry is in a booming state, with 17,000 enterprises, 120,000 workers, and more than 50% of the country’s industrial GDP, in a $5.4 billion market. Algeria benefits from a considerable production capacity combined with development and exportation potentials. These exportations mainly target the European market, yet, in most cases, this market remains virtually closed to Algerian industrial exporters. It is thus normal for the main actors in this sector to participate in the technical workshop; and for enterprises working in this field to take part in Paris Halal expo.

On the economic level, the Halal market gains a particular importance. Muslim consumers are estimated to more than 20 million in Europe, with 7 million in France, 2.5 million in Germany, 1.6 million in Great Britain and 1 million in Spain. It is worth noting as well that halal market undergoes the same expansion and development that the classical food industry has experienced. This expansion is most noticeable in grocery stores and automatic distributors of sandwiches. The concerned products are transformed ranges of food, cooked dishes, the catering industry, and even the cosmetic industry. This market is estimated to 500 billion Euros in the world, 4 billion Euros in France, and it is growing at a remarkable pace all over the world.

The certification is a must have
Antoine Bonnel, organizer and director of the Foods and Goods expo notes that Halal expo is “unique of its kind in Europe. It is an opportunity as well for theologians and Muslim actors in Europe to discuss key issues, such as the issue of certification”. In fact, the issue of certification has solicited an intense debate on who can say that a product is Halal, and how to prove it.

According to Bonnel, “in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, we assume that all products are halal since the majority of their population is Muslim and the main actors in the industrial sector are Muslims as well. In Malaysia, with a predominantly Muslim population, the government fixed some unique certification standards to identify a product as halal”. Bonnel cannot answer which one of the two approaches is most accurate. Yet, the labeling of these products is essential in Europe. Consumers in France cannot be treated the same way as those in the Maghreb. Bonnel considers that we really need a religious and ethnic label for French Muslim consumers.

According to Wael Hasnaoui, consultant at Optimexport, which is organizing the technical workshop, “the problem is that there are no fixed standards for the identification of products as halal. A debate is still solicited on the issue of halal products, even in Europe.” A large number of European countries are confronted to this problem. Bonnel suggests that the question of certification in European markets should be solved by the European Commission itself who can set the rules for identifying halal merchandise. Hasnaoui agrees on this matter since “it affects the overall consumption of such products. People consume halal for religious purposes; this is why the norms fixed to identify these products should be carefully established.” And this is why Halal expo is not only an occasion to promote these products, but to discuss in depth this issue with economic actors from the Maghreb, religious people and representatives of consumers.