Thailand seeking to increase global share of halal food market

Al Watan Daily: Thailand''s cuisine has achieved a meteoric rise in popularity and now stands proudly as a staunch international favorite alongside the world''s longtime champions.

But as Thailand''s food exports are growing by as much as eight percent per annum, the country has been slow in catering to the international halal food market, an industry that is estimated to be worth somewhere around one trillion U.S. dollars per year.

The word halal is an Arabic term that means permissible, and when used in relation to food means that its contents, preparation or the techniques for slaughter animals are inline with Islamic law.

It has been reported that 70 percent of the world''s Muslim population of two billion people follow halal food standards, a massive demographic that Thailand, which follows an agricultural policy of making itself ''the kitchen of the world'', simply cannot afford to ignore.

While 10 percent of Thailand''s population of 64 million are Muslim, it is the general lack of information concerning what constitutes halal and nonـhalal food that is blamed by many experts as the reason why the country has not been more competitive in the field. While it may have fallen behind its Muslim neighbor Malaysia in the field, Thai Muslim and nonـMuslim food producers are increasingly making use of government and privately funded facilities to learn how to make their products halal and attain internationally recognized certification that confirms their strict adherence to Islamic procedures. Surprisingly, the world''s largest producer of halal food is Brazil and the largest consumer is the United States, a little known fact that underscores the fact that only 20 percent of the world''s Muslims live in the Middle East.

The Central Islamic Committee of Thailand (CICOT) is leading the charge to elevate Thailand into an international heavyweight in the field through its Institute for Halal Food Standards of Thailand, a government funded project that aims to ensure that the development and certification of halal food standards complies with the provisions of the Islamic religion and correspond to international standards. The CICOT is an entity that runs under the office of the Shiekhul Islam of Thailand Sawas Sumalyasak, a position which is regarded as the leader of Thai Muslims and which is appointed by the Thai king to act as his personal advisor on all issues related to Islam.

Also up and running since 2003 is the Halal Science Center (HSC) of Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, a worldـclass laboratory that provides stateـofـtheـart halal accreditation services by checking for prohibited animal proteins, alcohol and the presence of microbes that can be indicative of unclean and nonـIslamic methods of food production. According to CICOT statistics, 1,000 companies were certified to produce halal food in Thailand in 2004, and that number has grown since then. But according CICOT sources, Thailand has over 20,000 food producers and 50 percent of them are able to produce halal food if they change simple procedures, a move which could boost halal food exports five to tenfold.

One major Thai food producer that is throwing its resources towards competing in the international halal food market is Charoen Pokphand (CP) Foods Public Company Limited, the flagship of Charoen Pokphand Group''s agroـindustrial business in Thailand, which operating agroـindustrial businesses related to animal farming and food manufacturing for the Thailand and international markets. CP Group boasts a range of halal certified food products that are exported internationally yet remains underexploited as a cost effective producer as only a fraction of its halal goods are imported by Middle East countries due to Thailand''s lack of a reputation for such foods.

While 1,200 other Thai manufacturers exported halal products worth almost two billion U.S. dollars in 2007, only twenty percent went to the Middle East and the rest were exported to Malaysia and other Muslim countries in Asia. With the concerted efforts of government officials and entrepreneurs in Thailand, along with recent successful inspections of Thai halal food manufacturers by the UAE''s municipality and the Muslim World League, Thai meat products will almost certainly start to become a increasingly popular in Middle Eastern countries as local merchants realize the tremendous benefits that trading with the world''s largest rice exporter entails.