Malaysia Wants Task Force To Oversee Development Of Halal Industry Among D-8 Countries

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | July 13, 2008 by D-8 Secretariat

Amid rising crude oil prices and food crisis, Malaysia wants the D-8 (Group of Eight Islamic Developing Countries) countries to set up a task force to oversee the development of their halal industry. Halal Industry Development Corporation chief executive officer Datuk Jamil Bidin said that such a task force would spur and streamline activities in the industry.

He said the task force would also facilitate collaboration among member countries to enable them to leverage upon on each other’s expertise and advantages needed to drive the industry further. “We should use this forum as a networking to spur joint ventures and collaborations to enhance our competitive advantage,” he told reporters after delivering a talk at the grouping’s day-long Business Forum Thursday last week, during the D-8 Sixth Summit and related meetings.

Jamil said it was now time for Muslim countries to fully capitalise and utilise the expanding global halal industry, currently dominated by non-Muslim countries.

“We also see that the halal market is developing, not just as a market for Muslim consumers, but in having a massive cross-over potential to provide high quality products for the non-Muslim population,” he said, noting that the world population stood at around six billion people.

Of this number, Jamil said there were almost two billion Muslims who formed a strong consumer base with US$610 billion spent annually on halal food. It is estimated that the global halal industry is worth about US$2.7 trillion and is growing rapidly at an average 25 per cent annually.

“We anticipate increase in demand from many non-Muslim countries, with significant Muslim population and economic growth for example, in India, China, Russia and Europe.

“The consumers in these countries have a higher purchasing power as compared to Muslim countries, and being health conscious, demand for better quality products,” he added.

The forum was held on Thursday last week in conjunction with the Sixth D-8 Summit and related meetings.

News/photosource: BERNAMA News Agency.

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