News From : DagangHalal.com (26 Sep 2011)
The trade fair is held in Ningxia, located on the ancient Silk Road.
YINCHUAN, China – A historic Muslim-era trade route linking China and Europe is gaining new significance after being revived by Chinese Muslim businessmen who follow the footsteps of their ancestor traders in Silk Road to boost their country’s share in the halal food global industry.
“China’s halal food exports have stood at 100 million US dollars each year as against the world’s total of over 500 billion dollars,” Sha Pengcheng, honorary director of China Islamic Research Center, said at the ongoing China-Arab States Economic and Trade Forum, Xinhua reported on Saturday, September 24.
“On the other hand, it means that there is much room for Chinese halal food industry to tap the world market,” added Sha, who is attending a Muslim entrepreneurs’ Summit on the sideline of the forum in Yinchuan.
The concept of halal (meaning permissible in Arabic), has traditionally been applied to food.
Muslims should only eat meat from livestock slaughtered by a sharp knife from their necks, and the name of Allah, the Arabic word for God, must be mentioned.
Now other goods and services can also be certified as halal, including cosmetics, clothing, pharmaceuticals and financial services.
Halal food is consumed not only by 1.5 billion Muslims around the world, but also by at least 500 million non-Muslims in the $2 billion global industry, Sha said.
Seeking a greater share of the global industry, the 2nd Sino-Arab forum, which kicked off Wednesday and goes on until Sunday, created a platform for Chinese enterprises of Muslim commodities and halal food to showcase their products to the world.
Yinchuan-based Yijia Shenghe Muslim Food Company is one of those local enterprises looking for marketing and potential trade partners at the fair.
“Although our company is small in scale at this beginning stage, our business is growing fast and I hope we can enter the Arabian markets in the near future,” said president Ma Xiaogang, a 35-year-old veteran-turned businessman.
The trade fair is held in Ningxia, located on the ancient Silk Road, which is home to about 10 percent of the country’s 20 million Muslims.
Arab Trade
Along with halal food, the 2nd Sino-Arab forum offered an opportunity for China to consolidate its share in the Arab economy following the political changes that have swept the region.
“We have had 30 years without any development in Egypt”, Amr El-Adawi, an Egyptian businessman who works in China, told Agence France Presse (AFP).
El-Adawi added that the new situation in his country, where the 30-year reign of Hosni Mubarak ended in February after 18 days of protests, would be conducive to business.
Tarek Yakhlef, from the Tunisian Union for Industry, Commerce and Handicrafts, agrees.
The Tunisian official predicted that the January ouster of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali will create “a favorable environment for exchanges and investment.”
Other participants in the forum praised the capability of China’s industrial firms.
“The Europeans, with all due respect, have two main problems – delays and capacity”, said Khaled El-Ruz, a Kuwaiti who works in the oil and gas industry and in shipyards.
“The Chinese are really occupying the market.”
Over the past five years, trade between China and Arab states has increased from US$65 billion to $145 billion.
Source: OnIslam.net