Seminar on halal certification for exporters of agricultural products was held in Moscow
On June 21st, the Federal Center "Agroexport" held seminar "Export certification of agricultural products according to Halal rules", which was attended by the Director of the "Food Export" Trade House Ruslan Arikov and his deputy Ruslan Maksimov.
Opening the event, the Head of the Federal Center "Agroexport" Dmitry Krasnov noted that the largest food markets in the Islamic world are Indonesia, Bangladesh and Egypt, but there is a high demand for halal products in the UK, EU, USA, China and India. "In recent years, the key driver of the growth of the global market of halal products is not only the increase of Muslim population, but also the marketing component: Halal is becoming a certain quality mark for buyers that inspires confidence, regardless of the religion of buyers." He recalled that Russian export of halal products have doubled over the past 3 years and amounted to $ 180 million by the end of 2021, and Saudi Arabia and the UAE have become the largest importers.
By the end of 2022, the global market of halal products will grow by more than 9%, Ilya Strokin, Director of the Competence Center in the Agro industrial complex of CAPT JSC, is confident. "The consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and disruptions in logistics chains have not affected the growth of global demand for halal products," he said. "According to experts, the potential of Russian exports of Halal products in the Middle East alone is estimated at $700 million by 2030."
Yusuf Rikov, an independent expert consultant on the issues of accreditation and implementation of the Halal system, presented to the participants the seminar - a step-by-step instruction on obtaining certification for poultry and livestock enterprises. It is important not only to carry out slaughtering in accordance with the requirements of Sharia law, but also to carefully check all food additives, packaging materials, as well as to separate logistics flows by organizing separate storage facilities for such products, the expert recalled.
Representatives of the largest Russian halal products exportingcompanies shared their experience in entering the markets of foreign countries.
Natalia Bartnovskaya, Head of the Export Development and Support Department of PJSC Cherkizovo Group, said that expanding the production and export of halal products is the basis of the company's strategy in 2022. She said that Cherkizovo Group,the largest producer of meat and animal feed,is developing sales channels, including paying special attention to the export of halal products. One of the most important supply regions is the countries of the Persian Gulf, North Africa and Southeast Asia, which show increasing interest in Russian products, including halal.
- We plan to increase production and export volumes, primarily halal products to the Persian Gulf countries, – Natalia Bartnovskaya noted. – Vertical integration makes it possible to control the quality of our products at all stages – from the cultivation of animal feed to the counter, which is of great importance for the production of halal products. In poultry production, we switch completely to manual slaughtering, refusing to stun.
In turn, the Export Director of the Damate Group, Eldar Sattarov, said that absolutely all production sites of the group are certified according to Halal standards. He is confident that in addition to export markets, such products will be widely in demand in the domestic market. As an example, he spoke about the Salima brand, which was originally developed for the markets of the Middle East and CIS countries with Muslim population, but was well received by representatives of Russian retail.
The head of the certification group of United Confectioners LLC, Alla Belotelkina, focused on the features of Halal certification for confectionery products. She stressed that having a Halal certificate is not a 100% guarantee of success for imported products in the Middle East markets. The manufacturer also needs to take into account the traditions of Muslim world and adapt the packaging design taking into account all cultural characteristics.
In the final part of the seminar, Anna Chekhomova, Director of development of new products and services of Maslov:agency, spoke. She presented the main provisions of the Concept of positioning Russian chocolate products for the market of Saudi Arabia and other countries of the Middle East, developed by Agroexport together with industry experts in 2021, presented the results of quantitative and qualitative research of consumers in the GCC countries (Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf) and gave recommendations on the positioning of confectionery products for these markets.
Based on the materials of the Federal Center "Agroexport"
