São Paulo – Brazil is working on a special event to promote halal meats in the leading food industry show in Europe, SIAL Paris (Salon International de l’Agroalimentaire), from October 21 to 25 in the French capital. Halal items are those made in accordance with Muslim tradition.
October 23 will see the Arab Halal Day at SIAL Paris, with Brazilian halal beef barbecue available from the Brazilian Beef Exporters Association (ABIEC) pavilion and halal chicken shawarma (a typical Arab sandwich) from the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA) pavilion.
In addition to the food, the marketing action will include typical décor and videos on Arab culture in a drive to promote Brazilian product in the Islamic market. The event is held by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil).
According to Arab Chamber business executive Fernanda Baltazar, SIAL Paris gets lots of buyers from Muslim countries, especially North Africa and the Maghreb, a region colonized by France, with which it sustains strong economic and cultural connections until our days. “We wish to show the relevance of halal product even in the non-Arab world. It is a trend and a growing market, and SIAL always gets attended by numerous Arab companies. This creates an opportunity for those players and importers to get in touch with Brazilian halal product for the first time,” said Baltazar.
Arab Chamber president Rubens Hannun said in a lecture to students in the ProLíder leadership program last weekend that the organization’s mission includes seeking out Arabs even if they are away from the Arab world. “The bringing of peoples together does not depend on where they are. Arabs attend this fair often, so we’ll go wherever they are,” he said,” said Hannun.
This is the third Arab Halal Day to be held by the Chamber in partnership with animal protein exporter associations. The first was at SIAL Paris 2016, and the second was last year at Anuga, in Germany, which saw close to 1 ton of beef barbecue served to visitors. The action led to over 150 business meetings taking place.
This year’s Arab Halal Day will be the first with ABPA as a partner, offering chicken shawarma out of its pavilion. The Association will bring along 22 industry players, some of which already do business in Arab markets. ABIEC said it will bring 20 Brazilian companies, including JBS, Mafripar, Marfrig, Minerva Foods and Xinguara, and 950 kg of Brazilian beef cuts will be served throughout the fair.
In addition to buyers from Arab countries, the show welcomes executives who are active in Muslim communities within Europe. France is home to an estimated 3.5 million Muslims, and halal product buyers are in similar numbers in Britain and Germany as well.
Brazil is a leading manufacturer and exporter of halal beef and poultry, with sales to Arab League countries coming out to USD 3.5 billion in 2017 – USD 2.6 billion of which came from poultry. The top buyers were Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Algeria.
Quick facts
Arab Halal Day – SIAL Paris 2018
October 23
Parc des Expositions de Paris-Nord Villepinte
Paris, France
https://www.sialparis.com
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
