Halal Development Corporation Berhad (HDC) and Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the aspiration of strengthening the bilateral relations through area of cooperation on Halal under the Look East Policy 2.0. This will also create greater trade and investment activities as well as wider market access opportunities between Halal industry players in both countries.
The MoU signing ceremony was in conjunction with the President and Chief Executive Officer of KOTRA, Mr. Yu Jeoung Yeol’s visit to Malaysia. HDC was represented by the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Hairol Ariffein Sahari. The signing ceremony was also attended by Mr. Lee Sung Gi, Director General of KOTRA. It is also a continuation from the first MoU signed in 2019. The MoU underlines Malaysia’s commitment to cooperate with other countries in exploring and growing the potential of businesses catering to the growing global Halal markets which forecasted at USD5 trillion in 2030.
South Korea is also Malaysia’s tenth largest Halal trading partner, with the Malaysian halal exports since the last five years (2018-2022) totaling RM7.24 billion. In 2022, Malaysia’s Halal export value to South Korea amounted to RM2.13 billion, an increase from RM1.23 billion from the previous year with the Halal Ingredients continuing to dominate sales with RM1.19 billion. The export of Food and Beverages was the second highest export value contributing RM819 million, followed by cosmetics and personal care products with RM64.35 million.
“KOTRA looks forward to closely working with HDC to support Korean and Malaysian companies in Halal Industry”, said Mr. Yu Jeoung Yeol, President and CEO, KOTRA.
From 2020 to 2022, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, HDC has been promoting Malaysian halal certified products to the South Korean buyers through series of online business matching with sales potential recorded at RM38 million. HDC has been participating in the Seoul Food and Hotel event in 2019, 2021 and 2022 to promote Malaysia Halal brand and halal certified products physically. These global platforms provide an opportunity for Malaysian exporters to penetrate the South Korean and within the neighbouring countries market.
HDC has proposed full-fledged transfer of knowledge and know-how initiatives in developing halal ecosystem including consultancy, training programs, and digitalized market access to halal products and services under the Halal internationalization and networking programs linking to the Korean market.
Series of online webinar to exchange knowledge is planned that will also benefiting the Muslim-Friendly Hospitality Services to welcome the arrival of Muslim tourists. Currently there are two Halal Certification Bodies namely the Korea Muslim Federation (KMF) and Korea Halal Authority Corporation (KHA) in South Korea which are recognized by Malaysia government through JAKIM.