Exhibitors at Beautyworld Middle East poised to tap into halal-based products as customer awareness rises

According to a recent survey, cosmetic and personal care products form an increasingly significant part of the approximately Dhs551m ($150m) annual market for halal products in the UAE. In the Middle Eastern re-gion, the market size for halal personal care products is estimated to be worth approximately Dhs2.06bn ($560m)

"While the hospitality, food, packaging, banking and finance industries are already devoting a lot of attention to the development and delivery of halal or Sharia-compliant products and services, the demand for halal cosmetics and beauty products has been relatively slower to take off," said Mr Ahmed Pau-wels, Chief Executive Officer of Epoc Messe Frankfurt, organisers of Beauty-world Middle East 2010, the largest networking platform for the beauty and wellness industry in the region. "But this trend is rapidly changing, with grow-ing consumer awareness and the drive for quality ingredients, making the market for halal and Sharia-compliant personal care products a high-growth segment with tremendous potential," he added.

Exhibitors from across the world will be displaying a range of halal and sharia-compliant cosmetics and beauty products at Beautyworld Middle East 2010, which has been acknowledged as the definitive trade event for the beauty, wellness and spa industry for 14 years. The event will take place from June 1st to 3rd at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Among those exhibiting halal compliant products at Beautyworld Middle East 2010 is OnePure Halal Beauty, the trend-setting skincare range created spe-cifically from 100% halal tested ingredients, founded by Ms Layla Mandi. Ms Layla will also give a presentation on halal beauty products as part of Nail It! By OPI - a series of seminars and workshops being held at the event.

"I created the OnePure Beauty range when I realised that most skincare lines contained haram ingredients," said Ms Layla Mandi. "I wanted to be able to care for my skin and wanted to observe my religious responsibilities. While developing OnePure Halal Beauty I made a commitment to luxury, excellence and to having all of my products certified Halal, so everyone who wanted to use pure skin care would be 100% sure they were free of all forbidden ingre-dients."

"Consumers in Asia, especially Malaysia and Indonesia have been the first in driving demand for Sharia-compliant health and beauty products, with Malay-sia last year drafting a halal certification standard that evaluates the content, modes of production, storage, handling and packaging for cosmetics and beauty products," Ms Elaine O'Connell, Senior Show Manager, Beautyworld Middle East pointed out. "Customers in the prosperous and high-growth mar-kets of the Middle East are becoming increasingly selective of the quality and content of the products they use, and this is reflected in the surge in demand for halal-certified beauty products."

Responding to the latent demand, local health and standardisation authorities in the GCC are increasingly working with recognised international halal certifi-cation authorities, to screen health and beauty products for their compliance with Islamic principles. The development of a global standard for halal cos-metics is currently underway. International Halal Integrity Alliance (IHI Alli-ance) is working on the standard which is set for publication this summer and should help to drive sales of cosmetics among Muslim consumers.

Covering an area of 24,184 sq m of exhibition space, the event which is a magnet for suppliers, manufacturers, retailers, health and beauty profession-als and end-users in the region, will also feature natural and organic cosmet-ics, beauty products, wellness and spa treatments and haircare products and services from over 700 exhibitors from 44 countries. In excess of 15,000 trade visitors, buyers and industry professionals from over 90 countries are ex-pected to attend.

Beautyworld Middle East 2010 will not just feature products and services cov-ering the spectrum of skincare, hair, nails, cosmetics, anti-ageing, fragrances, toiletries, dental, healthcare, fitness, spas, wellness, salon and spa equipment and furnishings. The trade event will also be hosting a series of additional fea-tures to create an interactive show environment. These include; the Walk of Beauty - a hair and beauty show featuring leading international hair stylists and makeup artists; Nail It! By OPI - a dedicated area for seminars and work-shops, culminating in a nail competition and a Fragrance Station where visi-tors can test the different perfumes featured at the event.