Indonesia eyes European halal food market

Indonesia eyes European halal food market

Zakki P. Hakim, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Indonesia aims to expand its exports to Europe through the
unexplored halal food market segment, which is worth 150 million
euro (US$195 million) a year, a senior official at the Ministry
of Trade said on Friday.

The Ministry's National Agency for Export Development (Nafed)
chairwoman Diah Maulida said that although the size of the
European Union market for halal food was relatively limited, at
about 20 million people, it would be a successful business if
Indonesia could supply suitable products.

"The halal food market is a very special opportunity for
Indonesian food products, since almost all of our products are
halal," she said at a seminar on the halal food market in France
and European Union.

Islam requires that Muslims only eat halal food and meat of
animals slaughtered according to Islamic tradition. Muslims are
not allowed to eat pork and or other animals which are not
slaughtered in the Islamic way. Muslims are also prohibited from
drinking alcoholic beverages.

According to Nafed, the European market contributed 18.8
percent of Indonesia's total non oil and gas exports of $54.13
billion last year.

Diah said products that had a high trend in the EU market were
organic products and convenience foods such as prepared and
preprepared meals and food, exotic foods, fruit and coffee.

Ethnic food marketing consultant Antoine Bonnel from France's
Algodoal & Cie, meanwhile, said Asia had a very high potential to
take advantage of the European market.

"Asia is much more advanced in producing halal food, than
anything we have in Europe," he said in the seminar.

According to Bonnel, there are currently 20 million Muslims in
EU countries, not including some 18 million Muslims from Turkey,
which is now applying to join the EU.

Aside from the European market, he went on to say that
Indonesia should also explore the global market where 1.8 billion
Muslims worldwide spend some $150 billion yearly on halal food.

However, Bonnel said, the problem would lie in certification
issues since there was no single definition of halal food in
Europe, or even in France alone.

Separately, Indonesian Food and Beverages Association (GAPMMI)
executive director Thomas Darmawan was also optimistic about the
government's move to approach the European market but saw the
certification issue as a problem.

"The definition of halal food differs from one country to
another. Malaysian halal food is not necessarily accepted in
Indonesia and vice versa," he said, adding that the matter would
be more complicated in a country which has multiple definitions
of halal food.