Life of Guangzhou - Firms Told to Capitalise on Halal Goods Demand in China

XIAMEN: Malaysian firms should capitalise on the growing demand for halal products in China, said the director of Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) office in Guangzhou, China, Ramli Bakar. “The demand for halal products here (China) is increasing and huge. There are about 20 million Muslims in China,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the 14th China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT 2010) here yesterday.

The fair started yesterday and will end on Sept 11.

Ramli said the non-Muslims were also showing interests in halal products as they were hygienic and clean.

He said halal products not only consisted of food but also non-food items such as cosmetics.“It is a huge market and we should take take advantage of the opportunities in this segment,” he said.

Ramli said most of the Malaysian investors in China were involved in the manufacturing food products, bird’s nests trading as well as in aluminium and metal industry in China.

“There are currently over 200 Malaysian manufacturing firms in China.”

He said Mida, which has offices in Guangzhou and Shanghai, planned to open an office in Hong Kong next year.

“The reason for increasing the number of Mida offices in China is to facilitate investments in both in Malaysia and China,” he said. – Bernama

Ramli said in an effort to encourage investments in Malaysia, Mida participated in the trade and investment seminars, business expositions as well as organising business-matching sessions.

He said investors from China were keen on the resource-based industry, manufacturing of rubber products, plastics and metal parts in Malaysia.

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