Why Halal Is A Big Business

We start off the new year by looking into why Halal has become big business.

Halal is no longer just about slaughtered meat according to Islamic practices, but encompass a whole spectrum of food products, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, banking, fashion, lifestyle and more.

Non-Muslim Countries Exporting More Halal Products Than Muslim Countries

Even non-Muslim countries, such as Thailand which has a large Buddhist population, export more halal food items than Malaysia and Indonesia (Muslim majority countries), combined! Thailand exports approximately 200,000 of certified halal products compared to Indonesia where it exports only 60,000 and Malaysia only exports 40,000 of halal products.

Learning Halal From Buddhist Thailand

Interestingly, Thailand has become the learning center for other non-Muslim countries to learn how to produce halal products. Countries such as Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and even South Africa are learning from Thailand on how to benefit from the halal economy.

This video from Thai PBS has explained why Halal has become a big business, and how non-Muslim countries are benefiting from this huge global economy.

What It Means For Muslims

Even more critical than ever, the Halal economy is a huge trillion US dollar market, and the world is competing for this market. What is important to realize is that if the Halal economy is served by non-Muslims to Muslim consumers, then obviously the non-Muslim companies are winning more, financially, than the Muslim companies, and Muslim countries.

Perhaps it is time for us Muslims, to figure out and implement, how to serve our own brothers and sisters in faith, in this huge market.

Farah I, Writer & Researcher

Farah Ishak is a Content Writer at Halalop. She grew up in the United Kingdom where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Management. Later, she completed her MBA and held senior-level positions in Malaysian based MNC. She left the corporate world to be with her young kids. She is passionate about issues concerning Muslim women, Startups and Muslim businesses in general.