LOCAL producers of halal foods and other industry stakeholders will be crafting new strategies on how the country can better exploit the $550- billion, and still growing, global halal market.

For this purpose, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), with the help of other concerned government agencies, is bringing together the Philippine halal trade stakeholders at a two-day conference starting today at the Philippine Trade Training Center.

Topics to be discussed include priorities and challenges of the Philippine halal industry, exporting and business potentials. 

Experts from Malaysia and Thailand have also been invited to share their halal promotion strategies. President Arroyo, in her Memorandum Order 201, has instructed the DTI, the departments of Tourism, Science and Technology, Agriculture and Health, DTI-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the Office of Muslim Affairs to work with the other stakeholders in harmonizing their halal programs.

The DTI said halal has evolved from a concern on faith and religious practice to a cultural norm even with the non-Muslim, brought about by the demand in the global market for healthy and safe products.

The global market for halal products is growing at a fast pace. 

For food products alone, the market is around $550 billion, according to data from Malaysia.

There is also the nonfood (for example, cosmetics) products and halal-related services.

The DTI said the Muslim community in the Philippines alone is a niche market as they number about 10 million people, which automatically are prospective consumers of halal products. 

 Halal consumers in various export markets are also huge.

In Malaysia, for example, there are about 20 million Muslims, 300 million in the Middle East region, and approximately 1.5 billion in the rest of the world market.

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