Türkiye, along with Indonesia and Malaysia, are among the only three member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that put themselves in the world's top 20 halal economy exporters, according to a report released Tuesday by the intergovernmental organization.
Indonesia and Malaysia are the other two nations in the 57-member Muslim bloc that are in this category, said the 2022 Annual OIC Halal Economy Report.
The report was launched in Istanbul on the sidelines of the four-day 38th meeting of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC).
However, the report, commissioned by the Islamic Center for Development of Trade (ICDT), said the OIC members recorded a trade deficit of $63 billion for halal products last year.
It said the exports covered food, fashion, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, with exports equaling $275 billion and imports totaling $338 billion.
"Only 18% of these imports were sourced intra-OIC, while only three OIC countries (Türkiye, Indonesia and Malaysia) made it to the top 20 exporters of halal economy products," read the report, prepared by U.S.-based market research and advisory firm DinarStandard.
Islamic higher education
ICDT Director General Latifa el-Bouabdellaoui said the report aims to "inspire and empower OIC countries to act cohesively, promote inclusive growth and increase the OIC's share in the halal trade and investments ecosystem with integrity and purpose."
The report showed that OIC members exported apparel and footwear products amounting to $101.94 billion last year, while the Muslim bloc imported the bulk of food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
Türkiye, along with Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, is among the top three markets in Islamic higher education, which the report said "is essential to educate industry and halal supply chain players."
"Muslim consumers from the OIC countries spent $15 billion on tertiary education last year," the report said.
"Driving OIC member countries' opportunity in halal trade and investments is its halal lifestyle consumer demand ($1.7 trillion in 2021) representing 79% of the global spending ($2.1 trillion)."
It added that the Muslim bloc is expected to spend $1.5 trillion on food consumption by 2026.
"This presents a strong window of opportunity for (the) OIC countries to ramp up production, leverage growing consumer demand for healthy and organic food products and adopt digitalization across the industry," the report suggested.
Media and recreation
While Islamic finance assets amounted to $3.32 trillion in 2020, the report said the OIC members made up six of the top 10 global markets for Muslim consumers spending on media and recreation last year.
Muslim consumers from the OIC countries spent an estimated $141 billion on media and recreation, which is expected to reach $211 billion by 2026, it said.
The report read that despite the pandemic having a huge impact on travel, it said Muslim travelers from OIC nations spent a total of $86 billion last year.
Türkiye has also made it to the top five Muslim nations in the OIC Halal Economy Trade and Investment Index, which ranks member nations' global and intra-OIC trading activity in halal-related sectors.
The index comprises 61 metrics organized into five components for each of the eight sectors of the Islamic economy, including Islamic finance, halal food, Muslim-friendly travel, modest fashion, media/recreation, halal pharmaceuticals, halal cosmetics and tertiary education.
The report recommends the OIC member states 20 actionable strategies to explore and implement, including national economic resilience building, intra-OIC/south-south cooperation, halal economy promotion and awareness, investment attraction and facilitation, and research and innovation with a focus on emerging technologies and capacity building.