São Paulo – Halal food-manufacturing companies from 15 Islamic countries will have their stock in the Halal Index, due to be launched during the sixth edition of the World Halal Forum, in Malaysia, on April 4th and 5th, according to the event’s organizers.
The 274 companies that will comprise the index are based in Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The combined market value of the enterprises is US$ 115 billion.
According to information supplied by Thomson Reuters, a group that supports the establishment of the index, at a later stage, the Halal Index will include stock of companies that produce Halal foods in countries that are part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The IdealRatings company, a consulting firm specializing in Islamic companies, is in charge of developing and managing the index.
"This is the first step towards what we call Halal 2.0, under which one of the major changes that we will see in the next decade will be interaction between the Halal industry and the Islamic finance sector," said Abdalhamid Evans, director of the World Halal Forum, in a statement disclosed to the press. "That is inevitable, these are the two leading Sharia-compliant business sectors, and interaction between them is still little to none. The merging of these two sectors will pave the way to new growth and generation of wealth," he finished off.
Forum
The World Halal Forum is the leading event for the global Islamic food industry, which is valued at US$ 661 billion and grows at 15% a year. Starting in 2011, the event will become a non-governmental organization that aims to promote change in the Muslim food market.
During the two days of the event in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, organizers are expecting 900 delegates from over 30 different countries. The theme of the forum this year will be "Towards a Halal Economy: The Power of Values in Global Markets."
The Brazilian Muslim Halal Food Centre (Cibal Halal), which is the operational arm of the Federation of Muslim Associations in Brazil (Fambras), will send a delegation to the event seeking new markets for Halal foods produced in the country. "We are attending the event to show that we have Halal here in Brazil," claims Nizar El Ghandour, the general supervisor at the organization.
In 2010, Brazil exported the equivalent of US$ 973.7 million in beef and US$ 2.34 billion in poultry to the Arab countries. By attending the event, Cibal wants to reach other Muslim markets, such as Malaysia itself and Indonesia. Aside from beef and poultry, Brazil also makes Halal-certified industrialized products, such as sugar, cheese, milk, sweets, among others.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
