Halal Consumer Goods Market, Focus on Indonesia (Processed Foods), Malaysia (Cosmetics), and UAE (Pharmaceuticals)

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] There is a claim that Korean companies need to target the halal market by understanding the characteristics of each Islamic country. It was found that processed foods are promising in Indonesia, cosmetics in Malaysia, and pharmaceuticals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

According to the "Current Status of Halal Consumer Goods Export Market and Export Expansion Measures" released on the 17th by the Korea International Trade Association's International Trade and Commerce Research Institute, the global halal industry size has grown at an average annual rate of 6.2% since 2019 and is expected to reach $3.2 trillion by 2024.

The report stated, "Among the 57 member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) within the halal economic zone, attention should be paid to the three countries to which Korea exports the most?Indonesia, Malaysia, and the UAE?where recent demand for consumer goods imports is rapidly increasing," and explained, "Indonesia shows advantages in population and market size, Malaysia in economic growth rate, and the UAE in per capita national income compared to other Islamic countries."

The report continued, "As a result of investigating the growth potential of import markets by product category and the preference for Korean products in the three countries, processed foods (8.3 points) were most promising in Indonesia, cosmetics (19.4 points) in Malaysia, and pharmaceuticals (13.1 points) in the UAE," and suggested, "Especially for Indonesia, which values cost-effectiveness, focus on affordable rice and noodle processed foods; for Malaysia, where interest in health and anti-aging is expanding, functional skincare cosmetics; and for the UAE, which prefers premium products, concentrate on patented pharmaceuticals rather than generics."

Meanwhile, a survey conducted on 312 companies exporting to Indonesia, Malaysia, and the UAE showed that among companies that reported increased export performance between 2015 and 2019, 58% were halal-certified companies and 37.4% were non-certified companies, indicating that halal-certified companies achieved higher export results than non-certified ones. In the attractiveness evaluation of the Islamic market, halal-certified companies (3.90) were also rated more positively than non-certified companies (3.32).

When 262 companies exporting to the above three countries but without halal certification were asked about necessary support, they responded in order of "support for halal certification procedures and costs" (47.3%), "establishment of halal certification standardization system" (45%), and "expansion of halal information support, education, and consulting" (34%).

Son Chang-woo, senior researcher at the Korea International Trade Association, said, "As the Islamic consumer goods market is rapidly growing, Korean companies need to pay more attention to the halal export market centered on Indonesia, Malaysia, and the UAE," and added, "To expand the domestic halal export base, in the short term, efforts should focus on supporting halal certification and expanding cross-certification between countries, while in the mid to long term, it is necessary to establish a standardized halal certification system that can be simultaneously recognized by multiple Islamic countries."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.