Halal products and live animals offer big potential

Halal food and
lifestyle products
offer South
African exporters
a golden opportunity to
increase trade with the
Middle East.
According
to Jean-
François
Seznec, a
political
scientist
specialising
in business
and finance
in the Middle
East and a
senior fellow
at the Atlantic
Council’s
Global
Energy
Centre, Saudi Arabia alone
has a market of 32 million
people.
“The Middle Eastern
halal market, especially
for agricultural products,
is one that offers great
opportunity,” he told FTW.
“With Dubai and Abu
Dhabi in the United Arab
Emirates having been
established as logistics
power houses, the Middle
East is very accessible to
South African agricultural
exporters as one can very
easily distribute to several
countries
using these
two as a
base.”
He also sees
opportunity
for the
export of
live animals.
“The Middle
East imports
huge numbers
of live
animals from
Australia and
New Zealand
for slaughtering during
religious festivals and
South Africa, thanks to its
proximity, could increase its
share of this trade.”
According to Seznec,
while both the halal food
market and that of live
animals holds potential
in terms of scale and
opportunity, they are not
necessarily easy to break
into.
“Expect fierce
competition,” he said.
“South African exporters
will have to work hard to
gain ground in the region.
The Middle Eastern
markets are also sometimes
expensive to break into
and require the necessary
footwork in the market.”
He said from a halal food
perspective both the UAE
and Saudi-Arabia were
good markets to target
first, while potential also
existed in countries like
Oman and Iran.
Estimated to be worth
around $2.3 trillion, the
global halal industry is
expected to grow by around
15% over the next five years
as demand increases.
A major driver in the
market, said Seznec, was
the improved economic
conditions of Muslim
countries leading to
increased purchasing
power.
Targeting this market
would require fast action,
he added, as it was not only
existing traders that were
fighting to retain their
position in the Middle East,
but also new interest.
“The Chinese have
also identified the halal
market’s potential and are
increasingly looking to tap
into this lucrative sector,”
he said. “The Chinese
investment into its One
Belt One Road initiative
is seeing huge investment
going into connecting China
with the Middle East.”
INSERT
The Middle East
imports huge
numbers of live
animals from
Australia and New
Zealand.
– Jean-François Seznec