- 1. Hallal CertificationHallal is the priority to ensure our
Muslim customers safety and convenience.Warna sugars, Godavari
sugars and also other leading groups of North India have gone for
Hallalcertification seeing the growing market and to capture this
segment of market with differentiation.How can sugar be Hallal? It
is because there is no use of animal bones in the refining or
bleachingor colouring process while other companies use itSugar
consumption usually rises during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan
as families gather to breaktheir fast from dawn to sunset over
festive meals. The Islamic world is rapidly going through aparadigm
shift as far as brands and consumerism are concerned.As more and
more companies look at expanding their footprints in the global
Islamic market, whichaccounts for around 23 per cent of the worlds
population and is projected to grow to about 35 percent in the next
20 years, brand managers and marketing heads need to study and
analyse the religionthat dictates so much of public life and its
associated values.Companies that fail to understand these few but
essential tenets are unlikely to taste success inmarkets. For
instance, sports goods Major Nike had to recall a whole range of
sports shoes for carryinga logo that offended Islamic
sentiments.India is home to more than 175 million Muslims and has
the third-largest community of Muslimconsumers in the world after
Indonesia and Pakistan. But its market in regard to the choices of
Hallal-endorsed products among mainstream brands is still highly
untapped. According to estimates by thePew Research group, Muslim
population in India is projected to increase from 177.3 million in
2010to 236.2 million in 2030. And the share of Muslims in Indias
population is expected to increasefrom 14.6% in 2010 to 15.9% in
2030.More than one in ten of the worlds Muslims, 10.8%, will live
in India in 2030, about the same as in2010. Most Muslim households
have middle-level expenditure abilities. Compared to rural
Muslims,counterparts in urban areas have better economic
conditions. But the masses live in rural areas. Thepercentage-wise
distribution of urban Muslims annual per capita expenditure is 25
per cent for belowRs 5,280, 47 per cent between Rs 5,281 and Rs
10,320, 22 per cent between Rs 10,321 and Rs 19,560and 6 per cent
above Rs 19,561 in 2004-05. For the same period, the annual per
capita expenditurefor rural Muslims was below Rs 4,110 for 23 per
cent, Rs 4,111 to Rs 5,790 for 32 per cent, Rs5,791 to Rs 9,480 for
36 per cent and above Rs 9,481 for 9 per cent.The majority of
Muslims prefer to buy only Hallal-certified products. Further, an
increasedawareness in recent years among Muslim consumers about
what they see as religious obligationshas expanded the demand for
Hallal items. Indian Muslims have 15 per cent share in the
consumermarket, going by their population. But keeping the
constraints of their economic conditions, it isassumed that Muslim
consumers have only 10 per cent share of the overall private
consumptionexpenditure of India. Based on the share of Muslims, the
estimated consumption is shown in theaccompanying table.
2. Muslims are permitted to use products with vegetarian logos
from India by default since these do notcontain Haram, the opposite
of Hallal, elements. To certify that products are authentic Hallal,
it isnecessary to regard the processed and contaminated products
where the ambiguity of Haramingredients is high due to change in
shape. It is pertinent to note that introduction of the Hallal
tagwith conventional products is not an identity campaign for
Muslims but only intends to includeMuslim consumers who might have
been left out due to religious limitations.If Asia is seeing the
emergence of a new, modern Muslim consumer how best to reach them?
On themost basic level, more and more brands are ensuring their
products meet Hallal certification in variousmarkets. This is
understandable. The global Hallal industry was estimated by the
World HallalCouncil to have been worth US$632 billion in
2009.Worlds first Hallal certified sugar from India which contains
no Islamically forbidden ingredients hasentered the Gulf
region.Warana Sugar Gulf Trading, which is part of Warana Sugar
(India), has unveiledits Hallal certified sugar yesterday also
announced plans to penetrate the Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC)
market this year, immediately after launching in the UAE.GCC
includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, theUnited Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar
and Bahrain. In the Middle East, there is currently a shortage
incapacity of about 3 Million MT of sugar while the EUs consumption
requirement is forecasted at about 2million MT in the next 2-3
years.Industry estimates published in 2009 revealed that the UAEs
sugar consumption is at nearly 140,000tonnes per year, calculated
based on the annual per capita sugar consumption of 34 kilograms
peryear, which is higher than the world average of 24 kilograms.
The regions annual sugar consumption isat 12 million tonnes, of
which 8.5 million are imported.