The halal corridor: A $2.2 trillion market opportunity

This article is produced and sponsored by CIMB islamic. It was first published in the State of the Global Islamic Economy 2019/20 report produced by DinarStandard and supported by the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre. The report can be downloaded from here. 

The growing global market for halal products across multiple sectors represents a compelling value proposition in otherwise uncertain conditions. 2019 saw global market participants - from corporates to countries to institutions - reimagine their respective roles, seeking firm resolution to the US-China trade disputes. Amidst this backdrop of uncertainty, growing global and intra-regional trade for halal goods has continued unabashed along new and traditional trade routes, some going back over two millennia from East to West and encompassing all regions in between.

From the 2nd century BCE to as recently as the 18th century, the Silk Road land routes connected East and Southeast Asia to South Asia, Persia, the Arabian Peninsula, Africa and finally to Europe. The global development strategy, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), initiated by China to infrastructurally link these long standing economic routes, continues to dominate regional and global conversations. It could potentially impact over 150 countries , and would also draw responses from established global superpowers.