‘Adapt to new technologies available in Industry 4.0’
KUALA LUMPUR: The halal industry must adapt to the new technologies available in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) as the current technological innovations have the potentials to strengthen and improve not only the economy, but also the world as a whole.
Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah, said past industrial revolutions had shown that failure to adapt to new technologies may cause companies and industries to struggle or even fail.
“Rapid and unprecedented technological advances are currently transforming economies, jobs and even civilisation itself and we must recognise that the world is changing.
“Billions of people are now instantly connected to each other via countless portable machines and huge increases in processing power and storage capacity means that data are being collected and harnessed like never before,” he said in his keynote address on the second day of the World Halal Conference yesterday.
He said the potential rewards of the Industry 4.0 were staggering, including heightened standards of living, enhancing safety and security and greatly increasing human capacity. As such, Sultan Nazrin said, the halal industry must tap these potential benefits to continue its growth on an international level.
However, he said, the incredible benefits of such developments also posed substantial risks, as evidenced by the big data scandal such as the current high-profile case unfolding in the news.
Meanwhile, he said, the halal industry has been growing at a remarkable rate and its value was expected to almost triple to US$ 6.4 trillion ( US$ 1= RM3.87) this year
Rapid and unprecedented technological advances are currently transforming economies, jobs and even civilisation itself and we must recognise that the world is changing.
from approximately US$ 2.3 trillion in 2012.
“While halal is perhaps most often associated with food and drink, there is in fact a wide range of halal products and services which can be offered, including healthcare and pharmaceuticals, personal care and cosmetics, travel and tourism, as well as financial services.
“According to Reuters, by yearend, the halal food industry alone will be worth US$ 1.6 trillion, halal cosmetic industry ( US$ 39 billion) and the halal pharmaceuticals industry ( US$ 97 billion),” he added.
Sultan Nazrin said the vast and widespread growth was due to the increasing demand for halal alternatives across a variety of retail sectors, particularly in the parts of the world which had a rapidly growing Muslim population, as well as non-Muslim majority economies such as China, Japan, the US and the UK.
In order to continue its rapid expansion, he said, the halal industry players, together with Islamic financial institutions, regulators and other market participants, should do more to nurture a halal ecosystem through the use of Shariahcompliant trade facilities.
This, he said, would facilitate the growth of Islamic finance within the global trade economy and would help to promote the sought- after end-to- end compliance for the halal industry.
“At the same time, the halal industry could actually greatly benefit from the capitals that can be generated via Islamic finance mechanisms, such as sukuk and takaful.
“Indeed, some halal companies are already pursuing these funding methods. Up to 2014, US$ 5 billion had been raised through sukuk by 40 issuers from the halal industry,” he said.
Sultan Nazrin said Malaysia has been showing its potentials in corporate sukuk financing in the recent years, dominating the market share with 63.2 per cent, or US$ 47.3 billion, of issuance in 2016. — Bernama
Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah, Sultan of Perak