YINCHUAN (CHINA): With 22 million Muslims, China has just one-eight of India's Muslim population. But China has managed to play an effective role in the $500 billion export market for halal food by capitalizing on its influence as the world's biggest buyer of petroleum products.

This was evident at a conference on Wednesday when government leaders and importers from Arab countries implored China to produce more halal food to meet the rising demand. Significantly, India with the world's third largest population of Muslims did not figure in the conference although countries like South Africa with miniscule Muslim population were invited.