MANAMA: Malaysia can be a major source of halal food for Bahrain and GCC, which rely heavily on food imports to meet local demand.
“Malaysia’s ‘Halal Certified’ stamp is seen as a sign of trustworthiness,” said ASEAN Bahrain Council chairman Shaikh Daij bin Isa Al Khalifa during a virtual conference.
Organised by the council in partnership with the Malaysian Embassy in Manama and Bahrain’s Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, the event aimed at showcasing Malaysia as a major food supplier, as all food and beverages from the Southeast Asian country are ‘Halal Certified’.
Malaysian Ambassador Agus Salim Yusof said since 1980s Malaysia has been a pioneer in establishing halal laws and its revenue of halal exports is projected to reach $12 billion this year.
“Malaysian halal certification is globally recognised and it is a benchmark for halal food standards which led to the development of the world’s halal food industry,” he added.
According to him, Bahrain imported $104 million worth of goods from Malaysia last year, which included food and beverages worth $22.7m.
The imported food items, both raw and processed, were mainly palm products, coconut products, vegetables, instant coffee, tea, cereal, biscuits and pasta.
Also present during the meeting was Maram Al Saleh, Bahrain’s chargé d’affaires in Kuala Lumpur, who said that the global halal market is estimated to grow to $7.7 trillion by 2030.
She added that Malaysia and Bahrain can develop a new opportunity in order to take advantage of this global potential.
Halal is an Arabic word for ‘permissible’ and is often used to refer to food and drink which are acceptable for Muslims to consume under Islamic law.
The global halal food and beverage market size is expected to reach $739.59bn by 2025, according to a report by Grand View Research.
According to reports, Bahrain was ranked 50th in the Global Food Security Index published by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) last year and imports about 94 per cent of its food.
A new national strategy in the works will include expanding and monitoring local food stocks over time.
The webinar was attended by 90 participants from Bahrain, Malaysia and Dubai.
avinash@gdn.com.bh
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