{"id":1357,"date":"2026-07-15T15:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T06:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/?post_type=industry_news&p=1357"},"modified":"2026-07-15T15:53:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T06:53:28","slug":"vietnam-singapore-halal","status":"publish","type":"industry_news","link":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/industry_news\/vietnam-singapore-halal\/","title":{"rendered":"The roles Vietnam and Singapore split, and how Japan rides the US$7 trillion halal market"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vietnam and Singapore are trying to build a \"regional value chain\" for halal food together. The partnership between the two countries reported by Asian Agribiz on July 8 is not merely a bilateral business deal. It is a vision in which Vietnam, a source of raw materials, and Singapore, a hub for finance, logistics and international certification, divide roles and connect all of Southeast Asia to the global halal market as a single supply network. For Japanese food buyers and procurement staff too, it offers material for rethinking which country and which function to use when organizing sourcing from Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n

The \"division of roles\" agreement exchanged in Singapore<\/h2>\n

The trigger was the \"Halal Business Seminar 2026\" held in Singapore on June 27. Its theme was \"Singapore \u2013 Vietnam and Beyond: Building the Regional Halal Value Chain.\" It was co-hosted by the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore, Maybank and Dawn Horizon. The Vietnamese side positions halal as a \"strategic growth field\" and regards it as a gateway to advancing the diversification of export destinations and the strengthening of supply networks.<\/p>\n

The idea presented here is clear. While Vietnam has strengths in agriculture, fisheries and food processing, Singapore has an edge in the international credibility of halal certification and in the design of finance and logistics. So they envision a complementary model in which \"raw materials are sourced in Vietnam, processed and certified in Singapore, and sent out to the world's consumer markets.\" It is a blueprint for regional division of labor that fills each side's weaknesses with the other's strengths.<\/p>\n

The halal market and Vietnam's current position, in figures<\/h2>\n

Behind this partnership is the sheer size of the market itself. The halal economy targets about 2 billion Muslim consumers worldwide and, including everything from food and beverages to pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, tourism and logistics, is said to exceed US$7 trillion a year in scale. The Middle East relies on imports for 85\u201390% of its food demand, and that demand meshes with Vietnam's main export goods, such as rice, coffee, cashew nuts, pepper, seafood and processed produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Indicator<\/th>\nFigure<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Muslim consumers worldwide<\/td>\nAbout 2 billion people<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Scale of the halal economy (including food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, tourism, etc.)<\/td>\nOver US$7 trillion a year<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Middle East's import dependence for food<\/td>\n85\u301c90%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vietnamese companies with halal certification<\/td>\nAbout 1,300 companies<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Share of Vietnamese companies with halal-certified products<\/td>\nAbout 0.2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

What is notable is that Vietnamese companies with halal certification number only about 1,300, a mere 0.2% of all companies. Although the supply capacity for raw materials is ample, companies holding the \"key to the exit\" of certification are still thin. The aim of teaming up with Singapore's certification and finance functions is to fill this gap in a short time. Vietnam's rush to build a halal-compliant supply network for goats and sheep is also Khanh Hoa province's effort to take on one of the country's largest halal livestock operations<\/a> evident, and the reorganization of production areas around certification is spreading even to livestock.<\/p>\n

The idea of turning \"standards\" from a wall into a business opportunity<\/h2>\n

Halal certification differs in standards and designated bodies from one importing country to another, and tends to become a barrier to entry. But this partnership is built on the idea of tackling that barrier jointly at the regional level. Rather than a raw-material country going after each country's certification on its own, by routing through a certification and finance hub it secures exits to multiple markets at once. The move to turn regulatory compliance from a burden into a weapon of differentiation is, as seen in Vietnamese sorghum being used in a halal-compliant bid for the Middle East market<\/a>, overlapping with a rise in producers who build export design into the raw-material stage. Production areas are shifting from \"getting certification and then selling\" to a stage of \"producing on the premise of certification.\"<\/p>\n

Implications for Japanese food companies<\/h2>\n

This vision throws up two perspectives for Japanese procurement strategy as well. One is to rethink sourcing from Southeast Asia in terms of \"function\" rather than \"country.\" If a division of labor\u2014raw materials from Vietnam, processing and certification in Singapore\u2014takes hold, it becomes realistic for Japanese companies to entrust origin purchasing and certification to separate partners in their procurement design. Vietnam's processing capacity itself, as seen in how Japanese procurement is reappraising \"processing\" as a hidden opening in the seafood field<\/a>, is gaining presence in the stages beyond fresh product.<\/p>\n

The other is the question of whether Japanese companies see halal, a \"new export frontier,\" as a competitor or as a collaboration partner. The Muslim markets of the Middle East and Southeast Asia hold large untapped room for Japanese food manufacturers too. Using Vietnamese raw materials, completing halal-compliant processing and certification at a Southeast Asian hub, and selling to a third country\u2014there is room for Japanese technology and brands to ride on such a triangular-trade flow. A perspective is called for that does not end the relationship with producers at sourcing alone, but designs where\u2014in processing, certification or sales channels\u2014value can be added.<\/p>\n

Summary: the \"role\" of production areas begins to move<\/h2>\n

The Vietnam-Singapore partnership is a sign that Southeast Asia's food supply network has begun to change from a \"source of cheap raw materials\" to a \"regional chain with a functional division of labor.\" With the huge halal market as the axis, the roles of certification and processing are being redeployed across borders. For Japanese food companies, not treating this trend as someone else's affair and considering early where in their own sourcing network they can incorporate Vietnam's raw-material capacity and Singapore's certification function will lead to the next move. The place to start is by taking stock of which of one's handled items can be expected to have demand in the Muslim market.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h2>\n