Halal Vietnam - Bright Horizons (Part I): Unknown things about the "billion dollar" market

The Halal market is a very large, potential market with a very fast growth rate but is very new to Vietnamese businesses. At the talk show "Halal Vietnam - Bright Horizon" of The Gioi and Viet Nam Newspaper recently, experts and diplomats involved in the Halal story "decoded" this potential market.

Delegates attending the talk show "Halal Vietnam - Bright Horizons" produced by The Gioi and Viet Nam Newspaper. (Photo: Anh Tuan)

According to many forecasts, by 2025, the global Halal product market is expected to reach a size of more than 7,000 billion USD and has the opportunity to increase to 10,000 billion USD by 2027.

Recently, Vietnam has begun to pay more attention to the Halal market. The project “Strengthening international cooperation to build and develop Vietnam’s Halal industry by 2030” has been approved by the Prime Minister , showing that we are on the right track.

The project provides major national orientations on mobilizing international resources to build and develop Vietnam's Halal industry comprehensively, helping our businesses participate deeply and effectively in global Halal product production and supply chains.

Muslim identity and brand

Regarding the above project, former Vietnamese Ambassador to Austria, former Director of the Middle East - Africa Department Nguyen Trung Kien commented that this is the first time the Government has a project on the Halal industry.

In terms of businesses, the Vietnamese business community is very dynamic, creative and in fact there are pioneering businesses exporting Halal products. However, when there is a Government-level project, the Halal industry will have the participation of the entire foreign affairs sector and all domestic manufacturing sectors. This is truly a new opportunity.

"When I started to get in touch with the story of helping businesses access the Halal market, I always found it interesting..." - former Ambassador Nguyen Trung Kien

According to Mr. Nguyen Trung Kien, Halal is a broad field, including human consumption products, related to food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals... built on a standard based on the religious beliefs of Islam. This standard is throughout the process from production, processing, distribution to consumption and therefore, it has a very large scope of influence.

"When I started to approach the story of helping businesses access the Halal market, I always found it interesting because it is a combination of religious beliefs, food hygiene and safety standards, and access to production and consumption markets. Halal is also a process chain related to different countries and legal systems, so there are always difficulties and challenges," said Mr. Nguyen Trung Kien.

Decoding more about Halal, Associate Professor, Dr. Dinh Cong Hoang, Head of the Middle East and West Asia Research Department, Institute of South Asia, West Asia and Africa Studies said that in Arabic, Halal means permission, legality. Initially, Halal was often applied to livestock and poultry meat and related to the slaughtering method according to Muslim beliefs.

Later, the concept of Halal was applied to other products, such as non-meat products. Today, Halal is applied to all aspects of human life. Therefore, the Halal logo is becoming the identity and brand of Muslims.

Regarding the issue of trust, Associate Professor, Dr. Dinh Cong Hoang realized that this is an extremely important feature of the Halal market. "It is the trust in transparency, integrity or Halal integrity. The production processes from farm to table, from the input food supply stage, to slaughter, processing, transportation and distribution for consumption must all comply with very strict Halal standards," he expressed.

In terms of content and concept, Halal also refers to purity of conscience and behavior, ethical choices, and lifestyle in daily life.

Currently, the social issues of concern are organic agriculture, fair trade, food safety, humane and humane behavior towards animals and the environment. Therefore, the Head of the Middle East and West Asia Research Department, Institute of South Asia, West Asia and Africa Studies commented: "With these progressive values, Halal is gradually accepted and gradually applied and becomes a way of life not only in Muslim countries but also in other countries".

Quality of quality certificates for Halal products and services in Kazakhstan. (Source: Astana Times)

Good opportunity for Vietnam to improve the quality of agricultural product standards

As for Associate Professor Dr. Dinh Cong Hoang, the interesting thing is the size of the market. This market has a population of 2 billion people and a size of up to 7,000 to 10,000 billion USD, with very fast growth. This is a very potential market, with very diverse fields. However, it is regrettable that Vietnam has not penetrated much into this market.

From Malaysia, Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia Dinh Ngoc Linh also said that Halal is the overall concept of a product process. In Malaysia, this country has raised the concept of Halal to the Halal ecosystem, with the hope that this product can reach different classes.

"Currently, there are about 10 countries exporting Halal products in the world, of which the top 5 are not Muslim countries. From Vietnam's perspective, I think we need to note that, besides religious goals, Halal requirements are likely to increase production and management costs to meet Halal demands," said the Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia.

Discussion between Heads of Vietnamese Representative Agencies Abroad with Associations and Enterprises on Developing and Participating in the Global Halal Market within the framework of the 32nd Diplomatic Conference, December 2023. (Photo: Anh Son)

As someone who approached Halal early, Ambassador Nguyen Trung Kien said that because it is a broad concept, people have different ways of handling it from each perspective.

From the perspective of state management, Mr. Nguyen Trung Kien realized that the participation of many ministries and branches was needed, but this created overlap between many agencies. "And that is when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and economic diplomacy need to step in," said Mr. Nguyen Trung Kien.

He said that there was a time when approaching the story of how to support Vietnamese businesses to develop the Halal industry, but could not find the subject. At that time, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son - then Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of economic diplomacy - boldly worked with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to highlight the Halal issue to attract the attention of the Government.

Up to now, the Project "Strengthening international cooperation to build and develop Vietnam's Halal industry by 2030" clearly states that the Foreign Affairs sector will strengthen international cooperation to support the building and development of the Halal industry.

Mr. Nguyen Trung Kien affirmed: "Halal starts from businesses, so businesses must be the center, the pioneer and the final beneficiary. In the coming time, how do we help businesses access the Halal market?

Halal product certification is the 'passport' to bring goods into Halal markets. How can state management agencies support businesses to soon have that certification, soon have a process to obtain that certification and soon have high competitiveness in countries that can produce Halal goods?

Not only is it an opportunity for businesses, Mr. Nguyen Trung Kien also sees this as a good opportunity for Vietnam to improve the quality of agricultural product standards.

Vietnam is a country with a strong agricultural sector, which is the pillar of the country. Therefore, to build the agricultural sector, we must have higher and stronger standards, both to protect consumers and to protect producers. And the Halal standard story is a typical example to raise the level and develop product standards.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/halal-viet-nam-chan-troi-tuoi-sang-ky-i-nhung-dieu-chua-biet-ve-thi-truong-ty-do-289852.html