Halal Goes Global

8
Chapter 2 – THE HALAL SECTOR
Figure 3: OIC leading importing markets of unprocessed meat and poultry products (US$ billion, 2014)
All OIC
15.3
Saudi Arabia
2.5
Egypt
U.A. Emirates
Indonesia
Malaysia
Iraq
Kuwait
Jordan
Lebanon
Qatar
1.7
1.5
1.1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.5
Rest of OIC
4.4
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The OIC market is a useful means of assessing the size of
the Halal market for poultry. Processed poultry exports to
the OIC countries totalled US$ 5.5 billion in 2014, led by
Brazil (US$ 2.9 billion), the United States (US$ 610 million),
Turkey (US$ 512 million), France (US$ 400 million) and
China (US$ 149 million).
Leading OIC importing countries are Saudi Arabia (US$ 1.48
billion), Iraq (US$ 688 million), the United Arab Emirates
(US$ 674 million), Kuwait (US$ 286 million) and Benin
(US$ 244 million).
GCC imports for this category amounted to US$ 2.9 billion
in 2014 with a 125% increase over 10 years, and made up
over 50% of the total OIC imports Saudi Arabia accounted
for 50% of the GCC import total. Approximately, 10% of all
exported processed poultry products in 2014 went to the
GCC countries, a significant figure given their relatively
small population, and no doubt boosted to some extent by
the annual Hajj (pilgrimage) and Umrah visitors.
Processed foods
(meat, poultry, seafood)
OIC imports for this category show a stronger 10-year growth
rate of 305%, from US$ 540 million in 2005 to US$ 2.19 billion in
2014. This probably reflects the impact of increased purchasing
power and changing dietary habits of a younger generation
that is more likely to purchase processed or pre-cooked food
products and other convenience foods, and is more likely to be
influenced by international trends and advertising.
Saudi Arabia continues to head the list of importers at
US$ 269 million in 2014, followed by the United Arab
Emirates (US$ 202 million), Egypt (US$ 193 million), Libya
(US$ 163 million), Malaysia (US$ 133 million), Kazakhstan
(US$ 122 million), Lebanon (US$ 105 million) and Jordan
(US$ 87 million).
Thailand heads the list of processed-food exporters to the
OIC, with exports valued at US$ 791 million in 2014, followed
by China (US$ 341 million), Morocco (US$ 208 million), Brazil
(US$ 134 million) and Indonesia and the Russian Federation
(both US$ 114 million). Malaysia, Jordan, France, Singapore
and the United Arab Emirates round out the top 11, with
exports ranging from US$ 72 million to US$ 51 million.
Thailand’s strength in this category is due to a specific policy
over the past decade to increase processed-food exports to
halal markets. Efforts to gear up the export capabilities of Thai
SMEs have certainly borne fruit. The past decade shows a 230%
increase in Thailand’s exports of processed foods to the OIC.
Thailand also heads countries exporting processed foods in
this category to the GCC region, with a 10-year growth rate
of 280% to US$ 213 million in exports in 2014, far ahead
of Brazil (US$ 64 million), Indonesia (US$ 59 million) and
Malaysia (US$ 47 million).