• In recent years, Muslim food becomes popular in China. With the rising standards of living, the requirement of food safety and taste of the Chinese people is getting higher than before. • With the successful closing of Beijing Olympic Games and the upcoming Shanghai World Expo in 2010, halal food is gaining importance to serve the needs of more Muslim visitors. • In the past three years, the China’s Muslim food sector has experienced fast development. Due to the strong demand in China’s mainland, most of the Chinese Muslim enterprises are now increasing the production scale to tap the growing market share. • In recent years, Chinese Halal food and product industry has sustained a development growth of 10% per year and in 2006, the total Halal food commerce was more than US$ 2.1 billion. Comparing with the international marketing, China’s market share only accounted for 0.1%. • The total value of China’s Halal food exports was less than US$ 100 million. This...

 

 

I met a number of top Thai and Malaysian business leaders in my recent trip to Bangkok in the effort to promote greater collaboration as well as to encourage Thai business leaders to invest in Malaysia. Presently, it is noted that there are many Malaysian companies investing in Thailand. Thai investments in Malaysia is limited. This investment imbalance needs to be addressed. It is encouraging to note that the Thai business leaders have shown high interest in investing in Malaysia. We will receive at least three trade delegations from Thailand within the next three months and expect to see the size of Thailand’s investment in Malaysia to increase accordingly. A delegation of over 120 Thai businessmen will be visiting Malaysia on 28-30 March 2010. A Malaysia-Thai Business Opportunities Seminar will be held on 29 March 2010 at Renaissance Hotel where MITI, MIDA and MATRADE officials will be briefing the Thai business leaders on investment opportunities in Malaysia. A...

 

Chocolates are adored by many. While chocolate production methods vary between manufacturers, the ingredients used are generally similar. Some ingredients, however, may cast doubts in the minds of Halal-conscious consumers. This piece shares what some of these ingredients really are, and what makes them Halal or otherwise. Ingredients in chocolates are either natural ingredients/chemicals from the cocoa bean or additives. Natural ingredients/chemicals from the cocoa bean give the unique characteristics of chocolates, and are not associated with any Halal issues. They are: 1. Cocoa mass/solid/liquor* - the main ingredient in chocolate and is the product of grinding roasted cocoa nibs thus producing thick paste known as cocoa mass/solid/liquor. *Chocolate liquor: A semi-viscous sweet syrup containing chocolate, sugar and other ingredients. It is used in making candy, drinks and other chocolate flavoured foods. Chocolate liquor is not alcoholic and is Halal, unless haram...

In a rapidly changing world, Malaysia holds its own… With a vibrant economy that is progressing… Through rapid industrialisation and transformation…  

The demand for halal food in Russia is growing partly attributed to the large Muslim population, estimated in the region of 25 million or 18% of Russia’s 140 million people. Moscow city itself has the largest Muslim population amongst the European cities with 2 million people. There is vast opportunity for Malaysian companies to export halal products and services to Russia and CIS countries in view of the growing Muslim population. In 2009, the Russian Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology registered a halal System which identifies the compliance of food products and medicines within Islamic law and principles. Furthermore, under the platform of Russia Mufties Council, a group of independent experts established a working group to facilitate the development and implementation of Islamic financial services in Russia. As a result of that, in February 2010, the Russian Association of Islamic Financing Experts (RAIFE) was formed. In the last few years, there had been...

YAB Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, the Prime Minister of Malaysia officiated the International Halal Showcase (MIHAS) 2010 on 23 June at MATRADE in Kuala Lumpur. More than 1,000 delegates including foreign dignitaries, trade buyers, exhibitors, trade association representatives and international visitors attended the opening ceremony. In his speech, the Prime Minister announced the launch of two new halal standards, namely, Standards on Halal Cosmetics, MS 2200:2008; and Standards on Halal logistics, MS 2400:2010, which marked another milestone for Malaysia in the development of halal benchmarking. Earlier during the ceremony, YB Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister of International Trade and Industry gave the opening remarks. He noted that the composition of products exhibited in MIHAS has developed over the years, branching out from mainly food to cosmetics; toiletries; pharmaceuticals; food packaging and machinery; logistics;...

Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC) dengan kerjasama Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (ATM) dan Kerajaan Negeri Pahang akan menganjurkan “Program Transformasi Halal” (PTH), di Gambang, Pahang pada 30 & 31 Julai 2011. Perdana Menteri Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak akan merasmikan majlis penutup pada 31 Julai 2011.   Objektif utama PTH adalah untuk: i) mewujudkan peluang perniagaan berteraskan Halal serta meningkatkan aktiviti keusahawanan. ii) meningkatkan lagi pelaburan domestik di Malaysia melalui penglibatan industri yang lebih agresif iii) mewujudkan sumber baru dalam usaha meningkatkan modal insan serta peluang-peluang berteraskan Halal.   Program ini menampilkan segmen Ekonomi, Pendidikan dan Edutainment (Hiburan berteraskan Pendidikan) di dalam industri Halal. Satu pameran besar-besaran yang melibatkan lebih daripada 100 ruang pameran dan astaka dapat dikunjungi oleh orang ramai. Di samping itu seminar bertajuk ‘Program Transformasi...

Date     :19 December 2011 (8.30 am – 4.30 pm) Venue   : Matrade Exhibition & Convention Centre (MECC) URL      : http://bit.ly/tH9j85

 

 

Inisiatif kerajaan dengan agensi lain dalam mempromosikan produk halal ke peringkat antarabangsa dilihat semakin positif apabila nilai eksport secara keseluruhan tahun 2011 adalah sebanyak RM35.4 billion berbanding 2010 hanya RM23.1 billion. Menurut Menteri MITI, YB Dato; Sri Mustapa Mohamed, eksport halal menyumbang sebanyak 5.1% daripada nilai keseluruhan sehingga tahun lepas. “Ini adalah satu pencapaian penting buat industri Halal kerana ini adalah pertama kalinya kami mengumumkan statistik Halal. HDC telah membangunkan satu pangkalan data yang komprehensif untuk statistik Halal, di mana ianya membolehkan HDC melaporkan prestasi bagi industri Halal ini,” kata Mustapa. “Di dalam aspek perbandingan dengan negara lain, adalah satu cabaran bagi mereka untuk mempunyai statistik yang komprensif, kerana mereka tidak mempunyai pangkalan data terperinci untuk industri Halal seperti di Malaysia. Saya percaya dengan nilai eksport yang dicatatkan, Malaysia muncul sebagai peneraju...