BRF confirmed its intention to establish a sister company, Sadia Halal, to focus on the company’s global halal operations in a bulletin published today (1 July).
Sadia Halal will be responsible for all the halal food BRF sells to Muslim markets around the world. It will hold all assets pertaining to the production, distribution and sale of halal meat, according to the company.
The rationale behind the move is to enable BRF to sharpen its focus in the burgeoning halal market and create one company to concentrate solely on this area. With slaughtering and handling techniques differing greatly between halal and ordinary meat, BRF hopes the spinoff will enable Sadia Halal to expand in markets not currently served by BRF.
Multiple halal moves
Halal is a hugely growing area of the meat industry and Euromonitor International claims it is worth $43.3bn. Analysts expect the halal market’s value to rise to $58.3bn by 2020.
BRF has made a number of moves into the halal market this year. In April, the company opened a new office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with a view to using it as a platform to supply halal to Asia’s growing Muslim population.
Negotiations over acquiring the remaining shares in Oman’s Al Khan Foodstuffs, valued at $65m, are also under way with BRF keen to expand in the Middle East.
A statement from BRF could not be obtained at the time of writing.