Halal industry thrives in Russia

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Halal Industry Thrives In Russia

CAIRO – Foreseeing a bright future for halal industry, a growing number of Russian Muslims have led demands for uniform standards for halal products and certification in their country.

“The halal food industry is growing in double-digit numbers in Russia,” Madina Kalimullina, director of the Economic Department of Russia Muftis Council, told Khaleej Times on Monday, December 23.

“Annually, we certify more than 40 enterprises in different spheres of production.”

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Over the past three years, the Russian Muslims have been calling for issuing common standards for halal food production.
“The present stage of the halal industry development can be considered as mutual acquaintance and deeper knowledge of each other among certification bodies,” said Kalimullina, who is also a director of Moscow Halal Expo.

“The efforts of the Standards and Metrology Institute for the Islamic Countries (SMIIC) to work out common standards for halal production started in 2011 are likely to give results in the coming years.

“Based on commonly-recognized standards, system of audit, constant research and innovations, the halal industry, by the will of Allah, has the ability to become the world brand of healthy, ecological and safe products and services.

“In the coming years the issues of logistics, regulation, customs clearance and distribution would be put on the agenda more often as the concept of halal will require new routes in the international trade,” she said.

According to Kalimullina, the OIC has exclusively the right to unite views on uniform standards for halal certificates.

“The issue, however is complicated due to different mazhabs and business practice,” Kalimullina, who holds a PhD in economics, noted.

“At the same time, unanimous efforts of Muslims around the world are sure to result in a deeper integration and development of halal production, trade and investment.”

The concept of halal, -- meaning permissible in Arabic -- has traditionally been applied to food.

Muslims should only eat meat from livestock slaughtered by a sharp knife from their necks, and the name of Allah, the Arabic word for God, must be mentioned.

Now other goods and services can also be certified as halal, including cosmetics, clothing, pharmaceuticals and financial services.

Halal Expo

In a bid to attract new investors to the growing halal market, the Russia Muftis Council (RMC) launched the project of Moscow Halal Expo in 2010.

“Their [native Muslims’] number now exceeds 25 million,” Kalimullina, the director of Moscow Halal Expo said.

“Apart from that number we have 10 million Muslim work migrants from CIS countries that form the demand for halal products; although they are from a low income group, but the demand is massive.

The success of halal food industry was not limited to Russian Muslims.

“Another big group of consumers are non-Muslims, who choose halal for its quality,” Kalimullina said.

Thee halal food industry has been one of the RMC' priorities.

In 2002, it established the centre for Halal Standardization and Certification.

By 2011, the administrative structure of RMC has formed the Economic Department for the council.

“In general, there is a plan of umma economic development worked out by the RMC Economic department which includes the enlightenment in the sphere of Islamic business ethics and Islamic finance, halal certification system development, educational courses, translation into Russian language of the international Shari’ah standards in Islamic finance adopted by the AAOIFI, support is halal business and Islamic finance companies, Business Development Club, and, finally, Moscow Halal Expo,” Kalimullina explained.

“Now, we direct efforts at development of new business and investment projects in halal sphere. Presently the most important of which is the chain of halal distribution chain all over Russia.”

The Russian Federation is home to some 23 million Muslims in the north of the Caucasus and southern republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan.

Islam is Russia's second-largest religion representing roughly 15 percent of its 145 million predominantly Orthodox population.

Halal Industry Thrives In Russia - Europe - News - OnIslam.net

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Muftis Council paving way for halal industry boom in Russia


The Russia Muftis Council (RMC) is providing training to help businesses and firms cater for the needs of Muslim consumers.




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World Bulletin / News Desk
With the rise of the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society of cosmopolitan cities and states, values and beliefs are not long limited to the borders of any given country. Perhaps, it could be argued, that 50 years ago non-Christian and non-Jewish religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism were generally seen as non-Western religions, bound to forever remain in locked in the lands of their origin i.e. the Middle-East, south Asia etc.
Of course any good historian can easily tell you that this is far from the truth, as non-Christians and non-Jews have always been a part of Europe, Russia and the Americas, especially Muslims. Without even having to mention 800 years of Muslim rule in Spain and the Muslims who discovered America before Christopher Columbus, the native Muslims who still live in the Balkans, Caucuses and former Soviet states of central Asia are enough examples from more contemporary times of Islam in Western civilization.
However, with the increased awareness and concept of nationality, citizenship and rights, the new upcoming generations of Muslim youth who have been born and raised in primarily non-Muslim environments are challenging the ideological boundaries in regards to the relationship between Islam and its place on the geographical map. Unlike their parents and grandparents, who may have migrated from predominantly Muslim lands, this new generation cannot be told to ‘go back’ to their countries, as they most likely don’t have any other country to ‘go back’ to.
Nonetheless, Muslims in primarily non-Muslim Western environments are successfully integrating without assimilating, and their firmness upon Islam, especially certain elements of it, is opening the way for some Islamic values to become norms in the West. One of the most important issues for Muslims is that of halal meat, as even many of the least practicing Muslims have not given up their insistence on eating meat that is compliant to their religious standards.
For this reason, even mainstream slaughter houses are beginning to employ Muslim butchers with a good understanding of halal meat to supply Muslim customers. Halal meat has entered restaurants and supermarkets wherever there are Muslims to purchase it. Committees have also been set up to monitor whether meat is being produced according to Islamic guidelines, with certificates issued to those who follow them.
Although Muslims, particularly of Tatar, Turkic and Caucasian background, have always been a part of Russian society ever since the Soviet Union was formed, recent migrations of Muslim workers to predominantly Slavic Christian regions, including the capital Moscow, has brought the concept of halal meat to the forefront in the country.
Foreseeing a bright future for halal industry, a growing number of Russian Muslims have led demands for uniform standards for halal products and certification in their country.
Madina Kalimullina, director of the Economic Department of Russia Muftis Council, told Khaleej Times on Monday, December 23, “The halal food industry is growing in double-digit numbers in Russia…annually, we certify more than 40 enterprises in different spheres of production.”
Kalimullina, who is also a director of Moscow Halal Expo, which was set up by the Russia Muftis Council (RMC) in 2010 to attract new investors to the growing halal market, added, “The present stage of the halal industry development can be considered as mutual acquaintance and deeper knowledge of each other among certification bodies.”
In 2002, the RMC also established the centre for Halal Standardization and Certification. Nine years later, in 2011, they formed the Economic Department for the council. Halal, which is Arabic for ‘permissible’, is not just a ruling for food. Everything in life from daily human interaction to big business transactions are managed by the concept of halal and haram (permissible and impermissible) in Islam. Therefore, these bodies set up by the RMC also train both Muslims and non-Muslims alike to gain an understanding of these guidelines.
In saying that the halal industry promises to become “the world brand of healthy, ecological and safe products and services,” she said “the concept of halal will require new routes in the international trade”.
Approximately 23 million Muslims live in Russia, comprising around 15% of the general population, making Islam the second biggest religious in the country after Orthodox Christianity.

Muftis Council paving way for halal industry boom in Russia | Islam | World Bulletin