Government Efforts To Make Indonesia A Global Producer Of Halal Products

JAKARTA - Economy Minister Airlangga Hartarto said there are four main sectors that will be developed in the halal industrial area to catch up with other countries as producers of global halal products.

The four main sectors are food and beverage, fashion, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. However, the government did not stop the development of other sectors.

Based on the Overview of the Global Islamic Economy (GIE), which measures the strength of the sharia economy in 73 countries, Indonesia is ranked 5th in the 2019-2020 GIE. However, Indonesia is still behind Malaysia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia.

Even so, said Airlangga, this achievement had improved from a year earlier, which was in 10th position in 2018-2019. However, for several priority sectors, Indonesia is admittedly still lagging behind.

"The problem in halal food is not yet in the top 10. Even though the mainstay of food and beverage products in Indonesia is one of the highest export products through palm oil products that are guaranteed to be halal," he said, in a webinar entitled 'Indonesia Towards the World Halal Center', Saturday, October 24.

Unlike halal food products, Airlangga said, in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics sector, Indonesia still has to catch up because it has not yet entered the top 10 in the world.

Meanwhile, in the halal tourism sector, Indonesia is in 3rd position, still losing to the UAE and Turkey. However, in the fashion category, Indonesia is quite superior with the second position behind Turkey.

To realize Indonesia as the world's largest producer of halal products, there are a number of strategic steps simultaneously and collaboratively across ministries and institutions. This step includes strengthening the halal industry through special industrial areas.

Airlangga said that currently there are two halal industrial areas that have been processed at the Ministry of Industry, namely Modern Cikande Industrial Estate in Serang Banten, and SAFE n LOCK Halal Industrial Park in Sidoarjo Regency, East Java.

"The other four are in progress in Bintan 100 hectares, in Batam as well and in Waringin City, Central Kalimantan 146 hectares and in the Pulogadung Cluster Area," he said.

Previously, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin highlighted the not optimal contribution of Indonesian halal products to the global market. In fact, he said, the export volume of Indonesian halal products was less than that of non-Muslim countries such as Brazil and Australia.

Ma'ruf said, based on the Global Islamic Economy Report in 2019, Brazil has succeeded in becoming the world's number one exporter of halal food and beverages valued at US $ 5.5 billion. Then, followed by Australia with a value of 2.4 billion US dollars.

Meanwhile, the export contribution of Indonesian halal products has only reached 3.8 percent of the total world halal market. Meanwhile, in 2018 the consumption of Indonesian halal products alone reached 214 billion US dollars. This amount is equivalent to 10 percent of the total consumption of global halal products which reaches 2.2 trillion US dollars.

"We must be serious about making Indonesia the largest producer and exporter of halal products in the world. With the resources we have, I believe Indonesia has a great opportunity," he said.

He hopes that Indonesia can become a world producer of halal products in the next 2024. Because, he said, Indonesia has great potential and is supported by the fact that Indonesia is one of the countries with the largest Muslim population in the world.