by BERNAMA / pic by BERNAMA

HALAL Development Corp Bhd (HDC) is looking to expand its operation in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China within the next five years.

CEO Hairol Ariffien Sahari (picture) said these countries received a huge number of Muslim visitors every year.

Speaking to Bernama at the World Halal Night and Halal Excellence Award 2020 in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, he said the corporation also aims to boost Malaysia’s halal exports and attract more investments into the domestic halal industry ecosystem as a direct measure to counter the trade deficit in halal products.

He said HDC will be leveraging its four core products and services, namely training, consultancy, Halal Park and Halal Integrated Platform in realising these aims.

“We realised that as a nation, Malaysia is still very much dependent on the import of halal products,“ he said, adding that Malaysia imported a total of US$25 billion (RM103.2 billion) worth of halal products last year, versus exports of just US$10 billion.

Hairol said HDC will further strengthen its resolve and double its efforts to revitalise the local economy, especially in the aftermath of the devastating Covid-19 pandemic.

He said there are currently 200,000 small and medium enterprises involved in halal-related business in Malaysia, but pointed out that only 8,000 companies are certified halal, of which 1,500 companies are exporters.

As such, Hairol said efforts need to be taken to increase the number of halal-certified businesses in order to boost the number of halal exporters.

In 2019, the value of the Malaysian halal product exports stood at RM40.2 billion, with China as the largest export destination at RM4.7 billion, followed by Singapore, the US, Japan and Indonesia.

Malaysia is one of the main sources of reference for over 150 countries in various areas within the halal industry development and governance.