PETALING JAYA, May 31 (Bernama) -- A total of 500 halal entrepreneurs from the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector have been selected to participate in the "Make Halal Your First Choice" campaign introduced by Halal Development Corporation Berhad (HDC), as one of the programs under the 2022 Budget Initiative launched today.

The campaign, which is the result of a proactive collaboration between the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) through its agency, HDC and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) through Economic Stimulus Implementation & Coordination Unit Between National Agencies (LAKSANA), aims to boost the growth of the Halal industry to a higher level, by targeting an increase in the average sales of halal MSME companies facilitated by 20% -30% during the campaign period from April to July 2022.

The campaign is divided into two categories; the first is Improving the Marketability of MSME Halal Products in hypermarkets. To make the campaign for this category a success, HDC has partnered with Lulu International Group and Lotus’s Store (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. This 3-month campaign has started from end of April at all Lulu Hypermarket and Lotus’s branches nationwide.

The second category, the MSME Halal Product Digital Branding Program, is a collaboration with Foodpanda Malaysia an online and logistics platform provider (e-commerce) which will run from 1 June to 31 July 2022.

Various promotions and attractive prices will be offered throughout the campaign, which aims to increase sales reach and performance, as well as address the issue of visibility gap of local halal products competing with foreign halal products, towards increasing the production capacity and capability of local halal products.

The launching ceremony of the campaign was officiated by YBhg. Dato' Sri Norazman Ayob, Deputy Secretary General (Industry), Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), and was also attended by YBrs. Hairol Ariffein Sahari, Chief Executive Officer of HDC as well as the top management team of MITI and representatives of the strategic partners.

The main objective of this campaign is to facilitate the facilitation of the marketability of local MSEMs halal products marketed through international supermarkets to increase sales volume and performance thereby reducing the sales performance gap and demand for local halal products compared to halal products produced by large companies and imported products.

“I call on all parties to play their respective roles in the effort to elevate the country's Halal industry to become the global Halal center. We must always be ready and willing to explore the wide open opportunities in the Halal industry that are expected to provide valuable returns, " said Dato' Sri Norazman.

According to him, "I believe, this campaign to Make Halal Your First Choice by HDC, in collaboration with private agencies and the government, will be able to give a positive impact and benefits in increasing the productivity and competitiveness of the country's halal industry."

Increased Halal Exports Performance

At the same event, Dato' Sri Norazman also announced the country's Halal export performance which recorded an encouraging achievement, with an increase of 19 percent recorded for 2021, from RM30.5 billion to RM36.3 billion. This increase proves the importance of the Halal industry to the Malaysian economy, despite the challenges of Covid19.

In terms of sectoral contribution, the Halal food & beverage sector continues to be the major contributor to the Malaysian halal economy with a total value of RM17.64 billion, followed by Halal Ingredients RM13.49 billion, Cosmetics & Personal Care RM2.44 billion, Palm Oil Derivatives RM1.71, Industrial Chemicals RM0.75 billion and Halal Pharmaceuticals RM0.28 billion respectively in second to sixth place. Halal Ingredients and Palm Oil Derivatives showed an impressive increase from RM8.83 billion and RM0.89 billion respectively in 2020.

Meanwhile, China has overtaken Singapore as the largest halal export destination in 2021 by RM4.6 billion and RM3.7 billion respectively, followed by Japan, the United States and Indonesia.

Direct investment in Halal Parks in Malaysia in 2021 also recorded a growth of RM210 million from the previous year. This shows the attractiveness of the country's Halal industry which has great potential despite facing the challenges of COVID-19 since 2020.

A total of 303 companies are operating in all 14 HALMAS-rated Halal Parks throughout Malaysia, with 44 companies being multinational companies (MNCs), while 259 companies are locally owned companies.

HDC has set a high target to attract and integrate at least 50,000 SMEs into the Malaysian Halal industry by 2030.

The increase in global demand which in turn will increase the flow of international Halal trade for Malaysia is partly due to the transition to the Endemic Phase and also the opening of international borders starting April 1.

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