Unexplored opportunities for Australia to enter Southeast Asian Halal food sector.
Sydney : The Australian food export sector is targeting Malaysia due to its rapidly growing certified halal food market following with a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) and Malaysia’s Halal Development Corporation (HDC).
The agreement was signed in February, should benefit the Australian exporters with both organisations concurring to share information and actively collaborate in developing partnerships between Malaysia and Australian companies.
Austrade foresee the growing opportunities for Australian businesses in Malaysia given the Southeast Asian country has rising disposable household income and an increasing desire for high quality products and services.
Malaysia’s gross domestic products (GDP) per head was $10,412 in 2020. The foodservice and hospitality industries, and local manufacturers, are to look seriously at sourcing Australian products. In 2020, Australia’s exports of goods and services to Malaysia totalled in AUD10 billion ($7.3 billion), but fell to about AUD6.3 billion ($4.7 billion) last year, according to tradingeconomics.com.
HDC CEO, Hairol Arrifien said, “Our agreement is not only about sharing insights and commercial partnership opportunities, importantly, it will include projects to enhance broader trade imperatives; exchange market intelligence and know-how; potential investment in halal industry park, training and consultancy services and cooperation dedicated halal business events.”
Ofcourse, with Malaysian halal certification being among the most advanced worldwide, Australian suppliers must work hard to fulfil halal certification. The Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) is Malaysia’s primary halal certification agency and it has appointed foreign halal certification bodies (FHCB) to facilitate the process for companies based outside of Malaysia.
Source taken from Salaam Gateway