Over the past two years, plant-based food consumption has grown by 49% across the EU, reaching a total sales volume of €3.6 billion.
UAE promotes halal sugar; Chinese manufacturers can follow suit
2025-05-15
UAE promotes halal sugar; Chinese manufacturers can follow suit
Warana Sugar, one of India's largest sugar sellers, has been eyeing the Gulf market and has recently launched a promotional program in the UAE through its Middle East subsidiary to market the world's first halal-certified sugar.
Warana Sugar is keen to tap into the emerging market for meat slaughtered according to Islamic rituals. Its bagged halal brand is free of powdered beef bones, which some sugar refineries often use as a sweetener.
This, a senior official said, has encouraged Muslims in the Middle East to feel comfortable adding sugar to their coffee and cakes, ensuring they are eating non-animal bone meal.
"You might be wondering how sugar can be halal, because animal bone meal isn't used in the refining, bleaching, and dyeing processes, while other sugar companies do," said Rajesh Vangani, director of Warana Sugar's Gulf business. "We first came up with this idea six months ago when an Iraqi customer inquired about halal-certified sugar."
Authorities in India, a country with more than 100 million Muslims, have given Warana Sugar a two-year certificate certifying that its sugar complies with Islamic dietary laws.
"Some refineries burn cattle bones into a powder, which is then filtered and added to sugar. This process is known as bone char. This process has made it easier for vegetarians to avoid refined sugar products," explains Rajesh Vangani, the Middle Eastern arm of India's second-largest sugar company. The company hopes its bone-free brand will help it capture 25% of the UAE market share by the end of 2012.
In the past four months, the company has imported nearly 45,000 tons of sugar into the UAE and is awaiting approval from the UAE government to sell it nationwide. Warana has already launched its products in the UAE and plans to expand to other countries and regions in the Middle East next year.
“Warana’s sugar products are currently available in major supermarkets and will soon be available in hypermarkets and retail outlets across the UAE. Our next big targets are Saudi Arabia and Oman,” said Vangani. “We hope to enter both markets before Ramadan,” he further added.
Sugar is a daily necessity. Warana Sugar's development of the Middle East market also has certain implications for Chinese manufacturers. Faced with the domestic Muslim market of 30 million, Chinese sugar companies can learn from Warana Sugar's emphasis on halal certification and further develop the domestic Muslim sugar market.