The Halal industry not only brings economic growth opportunities but also helps Vietnam affirm its position in the global agricultural and food supply chain.

With the Government's attention and comprehensive and extensive international cooperation, Vietnam has full potential to become a center for providing reliable Halal products and services, contributing to promoting sustainable growth for the economy in the coming time.

Vietnam has many opportunities to affirm its position in the agricultural and food supply chain for the global Halal market.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the global Halal market has great potential in terms of the size of the Muslim population, with about 1.94 billion people in 2022, accounting for nearly a quarter of the world's population.

The Muslim population will continue to grow at an average rate of 1.5%/year, twice as high as the non-Muslim population (0.7%/year) and is expected to reach about 2.8 billion people by 2050.

The size of the global Halal economy reached 7,000 billion USD in 2022 and is expected to increase to about 10,000 billion USD in 2028 thanks to the growth in the size of the Muslim population, spending levels, diversity in sectors and future growth prospects at a rate of about 6-8% per year.

The Halal economic sectors are now not only limited to the food industry but also expanding to many other fields such as tourism, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

This is impressive information for any manufacturing industry in the world. As an important link in the global agricultural and food supply chain, Vietnam has great potential to boost exports and develop the Halal industry.

However, Vietnam currently has only about 20 export items to the Halal market, showing great room for expansion. Vietnam also owns many of the world's leading agricultural export products such as rice, tea, coffee and seafood, which are favored by the Muslim community.

In particular, with nearly 1,000 Halal-certified enterprises, Vietnam has the premise to participate more deeply in this global supply chain.

In addition to its existing advantages, Vietnam still faces some challenges when entering the Halal market. Globally, there is no unified set of Halal standards and the certification process in different countries is different, making it difficult for businesses to invest in production according to Halal standards.

Furthermore, the cost of conformity assessment and investment in specialized production lines for Halal is high, creating significant pressure for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Party and State have had important policies to promote the development of the Halal industry. The project "Strengthening international cooperation to build and develop Vietnam's Halal industry by 2030" was issued in February 2023 and the National Halal Certification Center was established in April 2024, which are important milestones in bringing Vietnamese Halal products to the world.

Dr. Yousif S. AlHarbi, Vice President of the Saudi Arabian Halal Center, highly appreciated this step, emphasizing that, with a unified Halal certification, Vietnam can increase its competitiveness and expand its international market. International cooperation in developing the Halal ecosystem will also create conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to save costs and improve their competitiveness.

For provinces with potential for agricultural production, such as Ben Tre and Ninh Thuan, it is necessary to promote Halal products, and cooperate with partners from Muslim countries such as in Southeast Asia, the Gulf, the Middle East, Africa, etc. to bring Vietnamese Halal agricultural products to the world.

Source: Vietnamexport