Many Ukrainian producers faced the problem of available markets today, caused by difficult political relations with neighbouring Russia which resulted in losing the Russian market; as well as erosion of purchasing power of Ukrainian consumers. Trying to find the new markets, Ukrainian producers weren’t (unfortunately) very successful on the EU market, as they faced loads of new specifications. One producer, for instance, spend five years on getting a so-called “Euro-Code”. It bears reminding that the EU gave Ukraine an exporting quota for 40,000 tons of white meat for 2015 and it all has been contracted already. This amount is a drop in the ocean, knowing that Ukraine produces more than 1,500,000 tons of chicken annually. Put it simply, EU rather sees us as a consumer, not a supplier.
— We offer a real solution for Ukrainian suppliers, which is approach to the markets of Arab and other Muslim countries. To do that, one needs to obtain a halal certificate for their production, which is the only opportunity to reach that goal. The certification is voluntary, but it’s a document of a state importance for Arab and other Muslim countries, — Mr.Wael Al-Alaami, Director of “Alraid” Halal Certification And Research Centre, says.
According to him, working with Arab states has many profits and a long-term perspective. The producer gains access to the ,markets of 57 countries (and world’s overall Muslim population is estimated up to 2 billion). Arabic countries are rich oil economies with 75% import dependence and yet steady currency rates.
It’s notable that today’s main supplier to Arabic countries is Brazil (69% of chicken, 50.4% beef and lamb). Ukraine has advances of both quality of products and convenient geographical position which makes the logistics easier.
— Halal market is about high quality and and purity of the raw products, no harmful substances, maintaining dates of expiry, — it’s about eating healthy.
Ukrainian producers stand for the same criterias, so what prevents them from exploring the halal market? halal market reached the amount of 3.5 trillion dollars, and the experts think it will reach the mark of 6.5 trillion until 2020, and this is only the figures for the Muslim countries. This figure increases as the world’s Muslim population grows, — Mr.Al-Alaami summarized.
How can one obtain a halal certificate? One needs to approach the “Alraid” Halal Certification And Research Centre situated in 25a Dehtyarivska Street, Kyiv. After the documents are filed, expert commission visits the production site and checks its propriety with the rulings of Shariah. It take up to a month to get a certificate since the first phonecall. The Centre has certified more than 50 producers over the past 8 years, including “AVK”, “Roshen”. “Nasha Ryaba”™, “Gadyachsyr” LC, “Ryhal Powder Milk Factory”, “kozyatyn Meat Plant”, “Lactalis ukraine”, “Kharkiv Biscuit Factory” and many others.
Another important thing is that the information about each newly certified producer is sent to Trade Chambers of every Arab country and included in the list of Halal producers. Besides, it is placed on the numerous websites and social media in Ukrainian, Russian, English and Arabic. For instance, UAE Ministry of Ecology has recently placed information about “Myronivs’kiy Hliboproduct” on their official website.
It bears noting that halal-marked products are more and more popular in other countries as well. In Britain and EU, for instance, “halal” is associated with “healthy nutrition”, with no hazardous components.
— It’s very important that the animal is slayed the right way. A Muslim butcher first says “Bismillah” (in the name of God). If there’s no Muslim on site, we provide them with trained butchers. It’s also important that the electric shocker is used correctly, so that the animal doesn’t die immediately after the shock, but only obnubilate with its heart still beating. Only in that case the heart is able to deblood the body after the throat is cut, and that meet make healthy food. In non-halal sites of production the animals are killed by electric shock, as a rule, so the blood stays in the body after the throat is cut. This make the carcass heavier, but at the same time the meat is spoiled faster.
Unfortunately, animals suffer a lot during slaughter here in Ukraine. On the contrary, Islam teaches us that an animal must not suffer a lot before dying. The electric shock was applied on the cow’s eye, not the head, which resulted in about 10 minutes of dying in suffer! They didn’t cut the throat even after that, though, but strike the heart with a 1 meter long knife.
There are certain conditions that have to be provided prior the slaughter: the cow shouldn’t expect to be slaughtered and be in stress for that reason. It’s also wrong to let other animals see how their companions die — it’s totally inhuman. Scholars say that an animal who died in the state of stress feels tension and its meat is more coarse. Yes, Muslims have certain demands, but those are not so difficult to adhere to. We give certain recommendations and, as a rule, the producers accept them, — Ms.Larysa Polishchuk, Deputy Director of “Alraid” Halal Certification And Research Centre, says.
According to her, halal makes a separate industry nowadays, and products marked with “halal” logo are more and more popular in the public regardless of their religious views.
It also bears reminding that at press-conference “Transformation processes in Ukraine’s Muslim Community”, held by Ukrainian Centre For Islamic Studies at the “UkrInform” Agency in February, Dr.Vyacheslav Shved, leading researcher of the Institute for World Economy and International Relations of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of Ukraine and Director of the Dept. of Near East Affairs at Ukraine's National Institute for Strategic Studies, noted that commodity circulation between ukraine and the countries of the Gulf could replace the Russian market. So, the Halal market is no doubt a strategic direction for Ukrainian food suppliers.
Staff reporter
