A joint initiative of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (CCAB), the Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA), the Brazilian Association of Meat Exporters (Abiec) and the Brazilian Agency for the Promotion of Exports and Investments (Apex-Brasil) will highlight the Brazilian halal meat, that produced according to the determinations of the Islamic religion, in the main food fair of Europe.
On October 23, 2008, the entities will hold Halal Day, a day dedicated to the promotion of Brazilian halal meats in the show. At the stand of the entities, visitors can enjoy a barbecue made with beef cuts and poultry produced for marketing in Islamic markets.
Although held every two years in Paris, Sial also attracts buyers from Muslim countries, mainly Arab nations of North Africa and the Maghreb region, formerly French colonized regions, which still maintains strong economic links with France. “This is an opportunity for a first contact with retailers and food distributors who do not yet know the Brazilian halal product,” says the Arab Chamber’s business executive Fernanda Baltazar.
She says that this is the third time that the Arab Brazilian Chamber has held Halal Day in partnership with animal protein exporting entities. The first was at Sial Paris itself in 2016. Last year it was at the German Anuga fair. At the time, almost a ton of Halal cattle cuts were served as barbecue to visitors. In addition, there were more than 150 business meetings between representatives of refrigerators, traders, distributors and retailers visiting the fair.
In 2018, the novelty in Sial is the partnership with ABPA. At the fair, the entity will bring representatives of dozens of refrigerators, many of them already with customers in the Arab world. The association will also provide cuts of value-added poultry and whole birds of smaller size than those marketed in Brazil, the Arab consumer’s preference, for the Halal Day tasting barbecue.
Meetings with potential buyers are also planned. “We want to demonstrate the importance of the Arab markets for Brazilian protein exports,” said Baltazar. “It will be an occasion for us to reach a significant audience at the fair, which is the retailer and food distributor that works specifically with halal products.”
In addition to buyers from Arab countries in the north of Africa, Sial also receives distributors and retailers operating in European countries with large Muslim communities, most of them from Arab nations. It is estimated that France has 3.5 million Muslims. A similar amount of consumers of halal products also exists in Great Britain and Germany.
Brazil is the world leader in the production and export of halal animal proteins. In 2017, only exports of cattle and poultry products to the Arab League countries totaled US $ 3.5 billion. Of this total, US $ 2.6 billion corresponded to poultry products. The main buyers were Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Algeria.
This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.