Tomás Guerrero stands at the intersection of international trade and economic development, making significant strides in fostering global connections. As the Director of the Halal Trade and Marketing Centre, Tomás has dedicated over a decade to bridging the gap between Latin American producers and the burgeoning Halal markets across the globe. His journey, marked by a deep understanding of the Halal industry, has seen him guide countless companies through the complexities of Halal certification and market entry, particularly in regions previously unfamiliar with these processes.
Tomás’s early career involved helping Spanish and Latin American companies navigate the then-nascent Halal market, a venture that has since flourished under his expertise. His move to Dubai in 2019 to lead the Halal Trade and Marketing Centre, a hub created by the Dubai Airport Free Zone, underscores his commitment to facilitating global trade in Halal products and services.
In this exclusive interview with Latin&Gulf, Tomás shares his insights into the challenges and opportunities of the Halal market, the unique potential for Latin American businesses in the Arab Gulf, and the critical role of Halal certification in fostering these international trade relationships.
Join us as we explore the dynamic world of Halal trade and discover how Tomás Guerrero is shaping the future of global commerce.
Could you share with us your journey in the trade industry and what led you to your current role as Director at Halal Trade and Marketing Centre?
I have been working with the Halal industry for more than a decade. In my early days, I helped hundreds of producers and service providers in Spain and Latin America to obtain the Halal certification. At that time, the Halal market was largely unknown to companies in Spanish-speaking countries, especially in Latin America, where the lack of knowledge was even greater due to the absence in the region of a significant Muslim population. In those years, very few companies were Halal certified and regularly exported their products to Muslim-majority countries. I remember meetings with multinational companies in which their managers admitted to me that they knew absolutely nothing about the Halal certification or the Halal market beyond some basic concepts and clichés. Two decades ago, in the early 2000s, the Halal market/certification was something new for the vast majority of Spanish-speaking businessmen, which they linked only (at best) to the meat eaten by Muslims.
This situation made me realize that there was a huge untapped business opportunity and motivated me to continue gaining more knowledge and expertise. Over the years, I became a specialist and a reference in the field, which allowed me to come to Dubai in 2019 to join and lead the Halal Trade and Marketing Centre (HTMC) the centre created by the Dubai Airport Free Zone (DAFZ) to facilitate the trade of Halal products and services across the world.
How does the Halal Trade and Marketing Centre facilitate trade between Latin American countries and the Arab Gulf?
The Halal Trade and Marketing Centre is a trade promotion agency. It’s a global business development centre focused on the Halal economy opportunities for the industry. Our mandate and main goal is to help companies expand their business operations in the 57 Muslim-majority countries, where the Halal certification is mandatory for marketing different types of consumer goods, such as food, pharma or cosmetics products. For this purpose, we provide organizations, from different countries and sectors with tailor-made research advisory services. We serve as a one-stop shop for all their market intelligence, Halal compliance, and most importantly growth support services.
In the case of Latin America and its companies, our actions have been mainly directed towards:
- Raising awareness (through the elaboration and publication of comprehensive market studies)
- Facilitating the obtainment of the Halal certification (by delivering training programs and developing Halal assessments) and
- Providing access to qualified buyers in the GCC countries (through the celebration of virtual and face-to-face B2B programs).
As a result of our efforts, as well as the good work of companies and institutions, dozens of Latin American companies can and do export their products without problems to the Middle East today.
What are the current sectors in Halal market that businesses in Latin America should be aware of?
The Halal market is a fast-growing business niche composed of 1.9 billion Muslim people and 57 Muslim-majority countries, and valued at more than 2 trillion dollars. In 2022 the Muslim population spent 2.3 trillion dollars on Halal products and services. This spending reflects a year-on-year growth of 9.5% and is estimated to exceed 3 trillion dollars by 2027. This lucrative market offers business opportunities in many sectors, with the food and beverage being the one that currently offers more and better opportunities, especially for companies in Latin America.
In 2022 Muslims spent 1.4 trillion dollars on food and beverages. Of these 500 billion dollars approximately was destined by the world’s Muslim population to consume Halal-certified food and beverage products. But not everything is food and beverage in the Halal market, it is much more than that. Other sectors, such as Halal cosmetics or Halal pharmaceuticals, are also registering strong growth rates, and are expected to reach a value close to 84 billion dollars and 108 billion dollars respectively in 2027. Both sectors are good examples to show companies in Latin America that the Halal market goes beyond food and beverage, and it also offers Latin American companies producing other types of consumption goods relevant and untapped business chances in many other sectors.
What are some of the challenges faced by Latin American companies when entering the Halal market in the Arab Gulf?
There are several challenges that Latin American companies face when entering the Halal market in the GCC countries, but of all of them, one stands out for its importance in hindering trade between both regions: the difficulty of obtaining a valid Halal certification, a prerequisite to be able to export, for example, food and beverages products to these Arab nations. In Latin America, there are not many Halal certification bodies, and of those that exist, very few have today the necessary accreditations/recognitions from the Muslim-majority countries to issue valid Halal certificates that allow Latin American companies to export their products to the GCC countries.
This situation limits trade between both regions and, unfortunately, has caused serious problems for some Latin American companies, which have seen their contracts and containers lost as a consequence of having tried to export their products to the GCC countries without the Halal certification or with a Halal certification from a Halal certification body that was not accredited/recognized by the Halal authorities of the country of destination of the goods. That’s why one of our main priorities at the Halal Trade and Marketing Centre has been and continues to be to assist/guide Latin American companies with/through their Halal certification processes to prevent these types of harmful situations from happening again in the future.
What unique opportunities does the Arab Gulf offer to businesses in Latin America?
Latin America could become the GCC countries’ F&B pantry. Why? The market value of Halal food and beverage products in the GCC countries is estimated at around 60 billion dollars. It represents about 4.7 percent of the Halal food and beverage market worldwide. The GCC countries are net food and beverage importers. They are importing almost all the F&B products they are consuming. The geography in some cases, the weather conditions in others, or the sum of both factors, make it impossible or difficult to produce these types of products locally. Therefore, year after year they present a negative balance in the food and beverage trade balance and are among the largest importers of Halal food and beverage products worldwide.
For their part, most of the Latin American countries are agri-food powerhouses. Many of them (Brazil, México, Argentina, Colombia, etc.) are among the main world exporters of food products such as meat, avocado, soy, coffee, etc. Their companies are able to produce quality foodstuffs (since their major clients are based in the most demanding countries in terms of quality: USA, EU, Japan, etc.) at a very competitive price (due to their low labor and energy costs). This win-win situation represents an excellent and unique opportunity for both regions, with Halal certification being the main obstacle to this happening. Its achievement would bring great benefits to both parties, as GCC countries would gain a strong supplier for their food security strategies and Latin American countries would be able to grow economically and generate wealth by increasing and diversifying their food and beverage exports.
