Malaysia’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are encouraged to explore the export potential of Halal products globally as the sector is growing rapidly in both muslim and non-muslim countries.
The Halal Development Corporation (HDC) has released recent statistics on the Halal food and beverage (F&B) segment, which is now the largest segment within Malaysia’s Halal exports segment amounting to RM22 billion (US$5.16 billion). This represented an increase of 10.4% in 2019 from the previous year. Malaysian SMEs have the great opportunity to tap into the global Halal market which includes not only F&B products, but also other consumer products such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, financial services, tourism, and fashion. In Malaysia, there are now more than 200,000 local SMEs involved in the production of Halal products, as such it is important for these companies to obtain Halal certificates to facilitate sales in both domestic and international markets.
Interestingly, in 2019, the value of total exports for Malaysian Halal products was RM40.2 billion (US$9.44 billion), with China being the largest single export destination with 11.7% share followed by Singapore, the US, Japan and Indonesia.
The neighbouring ASEAN region remains Malaysia’s leading Halal export market with approximately 30% share.
Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Lim Ban Hong said the global Halal market offers great opportunity for local SMEs as the Malaysian Halal certificates are highly reputable and accepted worldwide.
