Halal Expo rolls in to its fifth year in Dubai

The Halal Expo 2012 opened Monday with the aim of building up the industries presence in the region.

The three-day event has brought together global and regional companies, which includes suppliers, manufacturers, and traders, to showcase their Islamic compliant products and services.

The products come in a full range from Halal meat to drinks to cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

“The Halal Expo is not just about meat,” said Nafees Ahmad, one of the organisers at the Halal Expo. “The Halal market is very wide. Through this event, we want to create awareness that what is considered Halal goes beyond meat,”

Ahmad is also promoting product that fall outside the realm of what is normally considered a halal product, such as cosmetics and pharmaceuticals that contain no pork fat and alcohol-free sparkling drinks.

The services on offer include Halal logistics, which involved knowing how to handle the meat during transportation, and Halal certification. Visitors can also learn the correct way to slaughter an animal. They can also meet with certification organisations to certify their Halal products.

Some of the participating global companies come from non-Muslim countries, such as Spain, Belgium and the UK.

“Brazil is one of the biggest exporters of Halal chicken and beef to the GCC,” he said.

Fernando de Vilallonga, the director general of Mas Pares which sells duck meat, said he was attending the show to reach new customers in the region.

“We are looking for distributor here,” he said. “The market is good.”

The regional and global interest in Halal products is a response to the Halal industry’s growth globally, he said, especially in the GCC, with the UAE and Saudi Arabia being the largest markets. Valued at $550 million in 2012 in the UAE alone, Halal products account for 90 per cent of imports in the GCC, according to Ahmad. He estimated that annual food imports into the GCC will rise to $53 billion in 2020 and exports are set to grow to $40.1 billion by 2015.

The industry’s expansion is credited to the rise in the number of 1.8 billion Muslims globally. Halal food accounts for 20 per cent of the global food industry, according to press release from the organization.

Ahmad expects that there will be 2,500 visitors to the event by the end of its third day.

The event will run from 9am-6pm today. Entry is for business visitors only.