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Last Updated: Jun 25th, 2007 - 17:07:26 |
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| From left, Dato' Jamil Bidin, Tan Sri Dr. Syed Jamaludin, Mr. Michael Ong and Mr. Paul Yao during the exchanging of documents signifying the strategic alliance between HDC and Intertek Group Plc. |
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“There is a question on how we promote Halal to the industries and take it to the doorsteps of homes. The sooner Halal brand is accepted as an international standard, the faster you have access to the global consumer." |
Malaysian Halal manufacturers must work harder to raise their level of standards and best practices if they wish to penetrate the global Halal market, said the newly established Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC).
To tap the vast potentials of the global Halal mart, local Halal products need to satisfy or even surpass the acceptable industry benchmarks, which not only comprise the product’s quality and pricing, but also other factors such as packaging, marketing and promotion, as well as branding and delivery time, said Dato’ Jamil Bidin during Tuesday’s MOU signing ceremony between HDC and Intertek Group Plc of UK.
Although the global Halal industry is estimated to be worth a hefty USD2.1 trillion, Dato’ Jamil noted that Malaysian participation is still very small. One of the goals of HDC according to him is to find ways and means to further increase Malaysian participation in the global arena. This can be achieved by adopting Halal as an all-encompassing standard that would take into account other established standards adopted within the global business circle.
“In the past few months since HDC was established, we have been talking to the big players within the industry. Many comments seem to be centred on local players having problems meeting international requirements. We should be looking to understand the current demands of the market and to elevate the local Halal products to conform to the highest qualities. It is about producing what the market wants,” he said.
The Halal Agenda
The Halal Industry Development Corporation, incorporated on September 18, 2006 as a private company, is wholly-owned by the government of Malaysia through the Ministry of Finance and is placed under the National Industry Task Force within the Prime Minister’s Department. The structure was formulated by the Prime Minister himself to allow for quick decision-making processes and approvals and offer an integrated approach in realising Malaysia’s vision to become a global Halal hub.
“This Halal Agenda is nothing new; it has been around for many years spearheaded by various ministries within the Malaysian government. But we find that our neighbouring countries are also very aggressively pursuing Halal. Even non Muslim countries like Thailand and Philippines have realised the immense potential and are aggressively pursuing Halal. Because of this, the government realises there is a need for a more concentrated effort to push for development within the industry. Hence, HDC was formed,” Dato’ Jamil explained.
One of the areas he will be looking is to create what he calls “Malaysian champions” where HDC will be pushing forward a few active players within the local Halal industry. Aside from fulfilling the core aspects like quality and pricing, issues such as branding and marketing will also be given priority. In this regard, HDC, according to Dato’ Jamil, will also be aggressively promoting the “Malaysian Halal” brand to the world market.
“Eventually, what we want is to ensure that Halal is the international standard, which complies with other globally acceptable norms such as corporate social responsibility, sustainability, traceability, food safety, care for the environment et cetera. The lamb case in New Zealand is a prime example where all lambs are now Halal slaughtered. You can take comfort in that, because it will become very complicated for the producers to set two different standards, but just have one that encompasses everything,” he added.
Intertek meanwhile is a global leader in testing, inspection, auditing and certification of products, commodities and systems, operating in close to 1,000 offices and laboratories in more than 100 countries and employs over 17,000 high-qualified personnel worldwide. Some of their certification activities include for ISO 9000, ISO 14000, GMP, WRAP, C-TPAT, BRC’s Global Food Standard, IFS, HACCP and a host of other globally recognised standards.
The partnership with Intertek Group Plc, according to Dato’ Jamil, would enable HDC to come up with Halal standard guidelines and best practices. Using the company’s extensive knowledge and technology would also help make local Halal manufacturers more adept in garnering a bigger market share by producing quality Halal products.
To help accelerate the development of a global Halal standards and best practices, Intertek has committed to invest ₤3 million to build a Centre of Excellence for Halal testing and training in Kuala Lumpur within the next 12 to 18 months. Aside from being a training centre, the institute will also house state-of-the-art testing laboratories catering for the Halal food industry.
“To develop solid Halal products and services, we need a set of experts on the Halal standards and testing, and so training is very important. Training is going to be the first step to educate consumers and retailers on the importance of Halal. So this Halal Institute will assist the industry in innovating Halal products and services, institutionalising the global Halal best practices and guidelines, and provide training and education to the industry practitioners, research scientists, retailer and consumers,” said Paul Yao, executive vice-president of Intertek Group Plc.
Harmonisation of Halal Standards
Agreeing on one common standard for use by all 1.6 billion Muslims throughout the world is undoubtedly not going to be easy. In this regard, HDC will use an all-encompassing industry approach that can be used to address the industry’s Halal requirement instead of the needs of an individual community. Standards refinements for each community will come as and when the need arises.
“When we talk about industry standards, we need to talk with the consumers and the retailers. We have assessed from our connections with these groups that what everybody is looking for is a kind of harmonisation in Halal standards that is acceptable globally and will facilitate global trade so that both the consumers and retailers would get the right product at the right quality,” said Yao.
He also noted that there has been an increasing demand from their existing clients who are asking for an all-encompassing Halal standard, especially the retail industry in Europe. From the industry’s perspective, the benefits are limitless. A globally harmonised Halal certification system would help industries to expedite product development, assuring the consumers, reducing the number of multiple certifications and thereby compressing the supply chain cycle time.
“This all-encompassing new industry guideline will not only be suitable for the Muslims but also the global consumers. The success of this project will also greatly depend on the stakeholders of the non-Muslim community throughout the value chain. Intertek’s role is to connect Halal to the non-Muslim business community beyond their expectations,” Yao added.
Also present was HDC’s Chairman Tan Sri Syed Jalaludin Syed Salim, who agreed that the partnership with a global player such as Intertek would enable Halal to become the new global standard within a shorter period of time.
“There is a question on how we promote Halal to the industries and take it to the doorsteps of homes. The sooner Halal brand is accepted as an international standard, the faster you have access to the consumer. To penetrate the market, we need market info and with Intertek’s extensive network and experience, we would have better access to get to the industry, and ultimately to the consumers,” added Tan Sri Syed Jalaludin.
“We must work a bit harder to achieve this, and its definitely going to be a challenge to prepare and raise the standards for local Halal producers, but we are telling local players that if you don’t comply, you cannot penetrate,” he said. - THJ
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