Government must give better exposure to Pakistan’s exports by fulfilling the requirements of the global halal market because Pakistan has great potential to become the ‘halal’ hub of the region due to its geo-economic position, said Harvest Tradings CEO & ICCI Member Export Ahmad Jawad. He said Pakistan’s strength is a 100 percent halal production base from a Muslim country, with over 170 million consumers within Pakistan and a direct access to a grand total of 470 million halal consumers in Afghanistan, Central Asia and the Middle East. Per latest research by the World Halal Forum, the total size of global halal food market was worth $632 billion in 2009 and if we also include non-Muslim consumers, the total figure will be much higher; Jawad said. Halal industry experts believe the size of total global halal market (including all halal food, non food products and services) ranges from a minimum of $1.2 trillion to a maximum of $2 trillion per annum. Similarly, more than 80 percent of the world halal trade is done by non-Muslim countries, both in the West and East, who use the halal brand to their own economic benefit, Jawad said. In the West, USA, Brazil, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and France are the biggest halal suppliers. In the East, Thailand is the biggest exporter of halal certified products after which Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and India are the leading halal products suppliers to the world, he said. Harvest Trading’s CEO further mentioned that Pakistan is still developing its own halal standards and there is no official halal certification body in Pakistan despite the fact that the country animal population is around 159 million. The countries with a Muslim majority are the most obvious target markets for halal products, especially for meat products. However, Muslims living outside the sub-continent and Middle East are more in need of halal products and services, which creates a big opportunity for suppliers of halal products, he said. In Europe, the market size of halal foods is estimated to be $66 billion, France having the largest share of approximately $17 billion. In the UK, halal meat sales are worth over $600 million annually, said Jawad. The American Muslims spend around $13 billion on halal food products annually. The GCC’s halal food imports are worth approximately $44 billion. Annual halal food trade in India is worth over $21 billion. Indonesia’s annual halal food expenditure is over $70 billion; he added.