KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 6 — Halal Development Corporation (HDC) is looking to expand its operation in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China within the next five years. 

Chief executive officer Hairol Ariffien Sahari said these countries have been receiving a huge number of Muslim visitors every year. 

Speaking to Bernama at the World Halal Night & Halal Excellence Award 2020 here today, 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 the corporation would be leveraging its four core products and services, namely training, consultancy, Halal Park and Halal Integrated Platform (HIP) 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 (US$1=RM4.15) worth of halal products last year, versus exports of just US$10 billion.

Furthermore, Hairol said HDC would further strengthen its resolves 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-sized 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 the country. 

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

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