Indonesia to Become the World’s Largest Producer of Halal Products

Jakarta, MINA – Indonesia targets to become the world’s largest producer of halal products by 2024.

SOE Minister Erick Thohir said Indonesia has the largest Muslim population and abundant natural resources, so it has a great opportunity to become the largest producer.

Even so, Erick regretted Indonesia’s position which is currently only ranked fifth in the world’s halal product producers, thus, it was quoted from Anadolu Agency.

“We are the number one consumer country for halal products in the world, but we are still ranked fifth as the world’s halal product producer,” Erick said in a written remarks read by the Secretary General of the Islamic Economic Community (MES) Iggi Haruman Achsien in the Opening Ceremony Road to ISEF 8th 2021. : Halal Products, Beyond Halal Compliance which was broadcast virtually on Monday.

Therefore, he feels the need to side with Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and local business actors.

This, he continued, so that Indonesian business actors would not only become traders of halal products but could also become producers capable of exporting.

“Exporting is not just importing,” he said.

Erick hopes that Indonesia can strengthen in the global halal value chain, not only dominate the local market.

Therefore, he added, it is necessary to make a breakthrough based on the standardization of halal products.

“This requires energy, synergy, innovation and consistency. Today’s initiatives are part of that effort,” said Erick.

On the same occasion, Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo said there are at least four things that must be done so that Indonesian halal products can penetrate the global market.

First, said Perry, is to accelerate the certification of halal products made in Indonesia.

“We must immediately accelerate and accelerate halal certification in the context of Indonesia as one of the players in the world,” he said.

Moreover, according to him, currently other countries are competing to develop halal product certification in the fields of food, beverages, fashion to cosmetics.

The second effort, he said, is to develop an ecosystem of business actors through integration between small group business units, medium units, and large units, namely industry.

“In this case, integration between business units needs to be done to support economic growth and people’s welfare,” he said.
Third, he continued, product development that focuses on five superior Indonesian products.

These include food, fashion, cosmetics, halal tourism, and renewable energy, he said.

“Why food? Because the economic base is the smallest, the value added is large and the level of support for economic growth is large,” said Perry.

He added that the fourth thing that needs to be encouraged is from the marketing side.

This marketing, he said, can be done by conducting halal lifestyle campaigns, seminars, exhibitions to the use of digital platforms.

“If we talk about the halal chain ecosystem, it must be end to end from production to marketing. You can’t just produce it,” Perry said. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)