HDC will be collaborating with MUFG and tapping into the bank’s strong 4,000 business partners worldwide

by BERNAMA/ pic by BERNAMA

CHIBA • Malaysia’s Halal Industry Development Corp (HDC) is capitalising on Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s (MUFG) huge customer base to create a bigger halal market space in Japan.

HDC commercial division senior manager Suryati Mohd Hayani said by tapping into the bank’s strong 4,000 business partners worldwide, HDC will be collaborating with 40 MUFG’s clients in Japan through HDC’s Halal Industry Expert Development Programme.

“It would be able to facilitate the onboarding of more potential Japanese companies onto the halal economy.

“The move will not only help Malaysia seize more halal investments and trade in the future, but also create high-income employment opportunities for HDC’s trained Malaysian halal industry talents in Japan’s growing halal industry,” she told Bernama on the sidelines of the 16th Business Link Shobai-Hanjo business-matching event in Japan yesterday.

The Tokyo-based MUFG is the largest bank in Japan and the fourth-largest in the world. Suryati said to date, of 60,000 individuals trained worldwide, 10,000 of them were certified as Halal Knowledge Personnel by HDC, a solid achievement which proved that the corporation is the biggest producer of competent halal industry talents in the world.

Through the one-day business matching event, MUFG has linked 40 Japanese companies to participate in HDC’s halal ecosystem development platform next year, she said, adding that it is a strong move to further strengthen the Malaysia-Japan cooperation in the halal economic development agenda.

“Japan’s halal potential is huge, but the problem is the companies do not know how to get on board the halal space. And we are the right channel and trusted business partner for them to approach,” she said.

Suryati said five business-matching sessions were held at yesterday’s event between HDC and five Japanese firms involved in medical devices, logistics, and food and beverages (F&B).

Statistics from HDC showed that Malaysia exported RM2.5 billion worth of halal products to Japan in 2018, with halal ingredients contributing the largest amount of RM1.27 billion, followed by F&B products at RM1.01 billion.

Organised by MUFG, the Business Link Shobai-Hanjo is an annual large-scale businessmatching event which saw about 4,000 MUFG’s business partners participated in this year’s event.