The Borneo Post (Sabah)

HDC aims to expand halal pharmaceut­ical into MENA region

-

RIYADH: Malaysia should take the opportunit­y to expand its halal pharmaceut­ical market especially into the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries following its growing demand globally, said Halal Developmen­t Corporatio­n Bhd (HDC).

Chief executive officer Hairol Ariffein Sahari said Saudi Arabia plays an important role as the central gateway for halal pharmaceut­icals to ensure Malaysia, as well as other Asean countries, enter into the MENA region.

“The demand and purchasing power for Halal products, as well as halal pharmaceut­icals, is very high within the MENA region and globally.

It was reported that the size of the global pharmaceut­ical industry hit US$1.6 trillon (US$1=RM4.76), of which 10 per cent or US$160 billion are halal.

“Malaysia is expected to reach US$5.9 billion by 2030, so this is where we can work together with the Islamic Developmen­t Bank (IsDB) to get our halal pharmaceut­ical products enter this new market among the Organisati­on of Islamic Cooperatio­n (OIC) and Saudi Arabia,” he told Bernama.

Hairol Ariffein believes that the booming halal pharmaceut­icals industry could benefit Malaysia in terms of trade and investment as well as Halal ingredient­s innovation.

However, Malaysia still lacks Halal pharmaceut­ical industry players, therefore, he suggests that the government should offer more incentives related to the industry.

“Only a few halal pharmaceut­ical companies in Malaysia fully adopt halal. The offered incentives for halal pharmaceut­ical is very limited.

“It’s only for those establishe­d companies or set up their companies in the dedicated halal industry area.

“So, the government should expand the incentive offering to those operating even outside the dedicated alignment systems,” he explained.

As such, Hairol Ariffein said HDC is working together with the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) to introduce future dedicated incentives for high value added investment aligned with the national New Investment Policy.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Malaysia