News From : DagangHalal.com (23 Feb 2010)
Bandar Seri Begawan – Brunei Darussalam has been very keen on diversifying its economy, due to the non-renewable nature of oil and gas, and this initiative is also included in the Sultanate’s National Development agenda.
His Majesty’s Government has allocated billions of dollars intothe implementation of various projects and programmes, as well as attracting foreign investors with some generous incentives, and diversification towards the export of halal products is also part of it.
The Brunei Halal brand was launched during the Fourth International Halal Products Expo in the early third quarter of last year. The brand is owned and managed by a government-owned company, Brunei Wafirah Holdings Sdn Bhd, which has appointed Ghanim International Food Corporation to manage the brand marketing.
The latest news on the pursuit of halal products revealed that 250 products – local and international – are expected to be marketed under the Brunei Halal Brand by the end of this year, while some 50 local and international products are in the auditing process for the brand.
With enormous potential to become a globally recognisable halal brand, the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR) has planned to reveal an international premium high-end brand dubbed ‘Serijunjung’ to markets in London, Dubai and Tokyo in particular.
This will involve the potential participation of local Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in a project that will package traditional Malay cookies and biscuits. Led by MIPR, this project will gather qualified and capable SMEs to produce biscuits for the brand, which will be marketed as a high-end product, sporting unique handmade boxes with special decorations portraying Bruneian culture.
The Brunei Halal brand is also looking into exporting poultry and fresh meat products, which are among the list of food types included in the Brunei Halal brand line-up.
Mulaut Abattoir – one of Brunei’s leading poultry and fresh meat suppliers – is very hopeful that they can get a licence to use the brand and enter the export market for its processed meat products.
MIPR’s recent participation in the 6th China-Asean Expo (CAEXPO) in Nanning, Guangxi, has also received inquiries from potential partners to diversify the Brunei Halal brand products by getting the raw material supplies from China.
Realising the huge and growing global halal market, China may be a potential raw material supplier, but they lack the halal certification process. Brunei can assist and cooperate with them by certifying their products halal – or they can join the Brunei Halal initiative.
In addition, Brunei has also left a mark in the Philippines as the Brunei Halal brand has attracted numerous halal product suppliers and producers in the Philippines, especially those in Mindanao at the Exporters’ Forum in August last year.
Ghanim is communicating with global retailers and distributors in several countries, and already has a list of product categories. Brunei’s initiative to enter the global halal market is very much laudable, as the global halal food trade itself has been estimated to value at around almost US$550 billion annually.
This is expected to grow, as the population of Muslims throughout the world is now 1.89 billion as of 2009 and increasing at a rate of 1.84 per cent.
By the year 2025, Muslims will account 30 per cent of the world’s population, and Brunei is taking advantage of this economic-diversifying opportunity, while at the same time ensuring that the products distributed worldwide will be of strict quality. — Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin