Asia
Venture Overseas To Make It Big, Halal Food Entrepreneurs Urged
By BERNAMA
Apr 30, 2007, 10:23

KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 (Bernama) -- Malaysians wanting to make it big in the lucrative halal food industry must venture and invest overseas as the local market is too small to offer maximum benefits, said Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC) chief executive officer Datuk Jamil Bidin.

Among the constraints in Malaysia related to producing halal food, namely meat, are the lack of raw materials and cheap labour supply, he said.

"So, the mindset has to change. If you want to get involved in the halal food industry, look beyond Malaysian shores. Because you need to have better access to raw materials as well as cheaper labour costs," he said.

For instance, countries like China, Indonesia and Thailand offer plenty of raw materials, he said at Bernama's Roundtable on the Halal Industry, moderated by Bernama editor-in-chief Yong Soo Heong along with Economic Service executive editor Salbiah Said and editor Mikhail Raj Abdullah.

Also participating in the roundtable were the chairman of World Halal Forum 2007 Khairy Jamaluddin, executive director/chief executive officer of CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, and Nestle Malaysia Halal Committee chairman Othman Md Yusoff.

"But even if you operate out of these countries, you should market it as a Malaysian brand as that is what we want to achieve," said Jamil.

Echoing the call, Khairy said countries without cheap labour, like Australia and New Zealand, are also successful in food production due to quality raw materials and good access and marketing strategy.

"So it is how you place Malaysia in this global halal industry along this supply chain. We have some potential especially in certification. If you get it right, than you are going to make a lot of money," he said.

India is another country that Malaysians can venture into, he said.

However, Khairy believes that it is up to the entrepreneurs to decide.

"It (venturing aboard) is a part of the business strategy but again it is something that businesses have to appraise for themselves," he said.

Towards this end, Khairy said, a substantial number of Malaysian companies have ventured into countries like Australia and China to actually acquire farm land and be part of the production side of the halal food.

Khairy said although Muslims are the major consumers of halal food their involvement in the production and supply side is small.

"We view halal as something to be consumed and not to be produced. I think for a very long time Muslims have only been largely consumers of halal food and not producers while non-Muslims, who have traditionally been involved in food production, have capitalised on the surge in Muslim demand," he said.

Going forward, Jamil said, HDC is also helping entrepreneurs to overcome another constraint - branding and marketing their products.

"Marketing, branding and financial capabilities are areas which are slowing the entire pace for them to participate in the global market," he said.

He said as far as marketing information is concerned, HDC has teamed up with some international companies to provide business intelligence reports to local entrepreneurs.

"There are also remarks that Malaysian entrepreneurs don't really know what the market around the world really wants and this needs to be addressed quickly," he said.



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