HALAL Exchange, a web-based platform for buyers and suppliers to
showcase their products, expects to double its supplier base in
Malaysia to 200 this year.
“Our target is to work with big retailers followed by the suppliers. In
Malaysia, there are close to 500 certified halal suppliers from food
and beauty to pharmaceutical sectors (to tap from),” its chairman and
chief executive officer Kombiz Eghdami said.
The exchange,
which had set up an office in Kuala Lumpur last year, has attracted a
total of 98 halal suppliers, who have been actively using the online
platform to receive enquiries from its 1,000 globally registered buyers.
These suppliers are involved in the beverage (15), frozen food (10),
palm oil (1), spices (4), prepared food (17), sweets (6), fresh food
(4), health and beauty (15), bread/biscuit (15) and meat (3) sectors.
Eghdami
expects foreign suppliers to register a faster growth, as Malaysian
suppliers still need to learn to leverage the Internet. “Halal products
have become mainstream,” he said.
An international e-commerce
business-to-business exchange that is the online partner for the
just-ended Sixth International Halal Showcase 2009 (MIHAS), the Halal
Exchange is a joint venture between vLinx Inc and RAK Investment
Authority under the patronage of Prince Saud bin Saqr Al Qasim.
Eghdami said with the rapid expansion of the halal industry and widely
disparate certification bodies and organisations, Malaysia can become a
global halal centre for certification and define the standards for
halal products.
“The Halal Exchange is the perfect platform for
Malaysian small and medium enterprises to communicate and interact with
global buyers that are using the exchange to source for halal
products,” he added.
Halal Exchange is headquartered in Vancouver with offices in Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Dubai and San Francisco.
At the just-ended MIHAS, major retailer Tesco Stores (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd
came on board to use the exchange platform. The platform enables the
retailer to have a comprehensive global sourcing solution ensuring
visibility to an international base of suppliers and increased
administrative efficiencies for trade processes.
“It provides
us with an industry-leading platform that not only increases our
potential supplier base, but also supports our drive to improve our
internal information processing and deliver increased value to our
customers,” said Tesco Malaysia chief operating officer David Hobbs.
