Building HALAL, exporting Ninh Thuan goods to Muslim countries

With the goal of expanding the consumption market and exporting Ninh Thuan agricultural products to Muslim countries as well as places where Muslim communities live, many enterprises in the province have been actively building HALAL (certification for products eligible for export to Muslim markets). Not only does it help enterprises develop in a multinational direction, increase revenue and profit, this is also a condition to help workers in the province stabilize their jobs with better income.

Expanding consumer market

Canh Dong Viet Food Joint Stock Company, a member of GC Food Group in Thanh Hai Industrial Park (Phan Rang - Thap Cham City), is one of the pioneers in building and applying HALAL to bring goods to the Muslim market, and is also the first enterprise in the province to have products certified HALAL. Mr. Nguyen Duc Thuan, Director of the company, said: HALAL is considered the key to open the door to the Muslim market. Muslims only trust and are allowed to use products certified with HALAL. Therefore, in order for goods to enter this potential market, the company has invested in separate production lines, equipment, safe raw materials, and packaging, transportation, preservation... all must follow HALAL standards. Up to now, 11 aloe vera jelly products of the company have achieved this certification and are exported to a number of countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazahstan, Uzbekistan with a revenue ratio of 5-8% and are ready to reach many other countries of the Muslim market. From 2018 to now, the company has exported more than 170 tons of various aloe vera products to Middle Eastern countries each year. The company's HALAL-certified aloe vera products are also on display at the Product Gallery of the Vietnamese Embassy in Doha, Qatar.

Workers pack goat and lamb meat products of Nhat Thanh Food Company Limited. Photo: M.Thuong

In order to diversify products for the Muslim market, the Provincial People's Committee has assigned departments, branches and localities to review and arrange land funds for a project of a concentrated livestock slaughterhouse for Nhat Thanh Food Company Limited in Phuoc Dan town (Ninh Phuoc), aiming to export goat and sheep meat according to HALAL standards to the Middle Eastern and Muslim markets. Recently, at a working session with Nhat Thanh Food Company Limited to listen to a report on resolving problems related to the company's concentrated livestock slaughterhouse project, comrade Trinh Minh Hoang, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee emphasized: Ninh Thuan has a very early developed goat and sheep farming industry, is the largest farming area in the country with a total herd of more than 220,000 goats and sheep, with an annual meat output of about 4,000 tons. Goat and sheep meat is one of the province's typical products, it is necessary to build a brand not only domestically but also for export to foreign markets. Our province has a favorable geographical location, close to large HALAL markets such as Malaysia, Indonesia... therefore, developing HALAL products is one of the province's orientations.

Mr. Tran Nguyen Khac Huy, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nhat Thanh Food Company Limited, said: With goat and sheep meat products, the company has the capacity to supply and consume domestic output, has a factory to process sheep, goat and beef in a centralized form with a freezer at -40 degrees, which is included in the provincial planning until 2030. For sheep meat, the company has connected and received great interest from Brunei partners, who want to cooperate. To orient exports based on the project approved by the province, the company is building a HALAL slaughtering process, which is a process to meet export requirements to Muslim countries in the West Asia region.

Solving employment for workers

According to Mr. Tran Nguyen Khac Huy, to build and achieve HALAL certification, enterprises must review and complete from farm to table, ensuring that no prohibitions are violated in the entire process. Not only related to product ingredients but also including the entire production, processing, packaging, labeling, preservation and transportation process, in which workers are an important factor. For the HALAL process, the butchers of goats and sheep must be Muslims, while the company's location is close to the Cham Bani and Cham Islam communities, making it convenient to find this human resource. Successfully building HALAL not only helps enterprises develop but also contributes to solving employment and increasing income for a part of ethnic minority workers in the province.

Workers work at Canh Dong Viet Food Joint Stock Company.

Ms. Luong Thi My Nu, Chairwoman of the Trade Union of Canh Dong Viet Food Joint Stock Company, said: Right from the early days of building HALAL, the company's leaders discussed with the trade union. Understanding the benefits of HALAL in the company's development process and ensuring jobs and wages for employees, the trade union actively promoted so that employees clearly understood the requirements and were ready to accompany the company in each production and processing process, complying with strict HALAL standards. Thanks to that, the company's production and business have always been stable and developed, maintaining stable jobs for more than 350 workers with a salary of 6-8 million VND/person/month.

Ms. Phan Thi Thanh Thuy, an employee at Canh Dong Viet Food Joint Stock Company, excitedly shared: The company builds and applies HALAL, so we work more professionally. Everyone clearly sees their responsibility to build the company to develop. We are very happy and proud that our products are exported to many places. That is also the condition for us to have stable jobs and quite good income even during the recent epidemic.

Minh Thuong

Source: http://baoninhthuan.com.vn/news/150582p1c25/xay-dung-halal-xuat-khau-hang-hoa-ninh-thuan-den-cac-nuoc-hoi-giao.htm