Over the past two years, plant-based food consumption has grown by 49% across the EU, reaching a total sales volume of €3.6 billion.
Malaysia is recognized as a pioneer in the world's halal industry
2025-05-15
Malaysia has once again been ranked as the number one Islamic economy in the 2017/2018 Global Islamic Economy Report (GIEI) produced by Thomson Reuters, a world-renowned research firm, based on support from its Islamic finance and halal food ecosystems.
In the GIEI report which measures the overall development of the Islamic economy sector worldwide, Malaysia ranked first with a GIEI score of 121, followed by the United Arab Emirates (86), Bahrain (66) and Saudi Arabia (63).
This recognition coupled with the joint efforts of government agencies such as Jakim Malaysia, the Malaysian Department of Standards and the Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC) to promote the adoption of the Malaysian Halal logo issued by Jakim will help enhance the marketability of halal products and services from Malaysia.
“The Jakim Halal logo is based on strict halal certification, standard setting, research and development, so non-Muslim majority countries such as Thailand, Japan and South Korea, as well as Latin America are now looking to Malaysia for professional halal certification and using MIHAS as a platform to develop the halal sector in their respective markets,” said Aminuddin.
According to HDC data, about 1,400 Malaysian companies generated RM42.2 billion in export revenue in 2016 from halal products such as food and beverages, ingredients, cosmetics and medicines.
This figure accounted for 7.5% of the country's GDP that year.
There is no doubt that the halal industry players in Malaysia will be looking forward to the journey towards MIHAS 2018.
This will highlight new market segments, including the Islamic Trade Finance Showcase and a forum for financial institutions to showcase their Islamic finance products such as export finance, import finance, letters of credit and bank guarantees, and transport guarantees.
Halal Management and Science @ FBM Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (iHALALMAS) will host a symposium where researchers from local and international universities will present their developments in the halal field.
Under the Halal Innovation Programme, local halal industry players will showcase their innovations to selected potential buyers and investors during the process.
In addition to these new segments, MIHAS will continue to feature its existing members-only offerings, which include a managed buyers programme, trade talks, industry zones and MIHAS Connect as a knowledge-sharing event and to facilitate transactions during the show.
“The annual MIHAS trade expo is a stamp of recognition for Malaysia’s leading role in promoting the global halal industry,” said Aminuddin, while pointing out that halal exports themselves contributed 5.4 per cent of Malaysia’s overall exports in 2016.
Major halal exports included food and beverages (RM18.6 billion), halal ingredients (RM12.8 billion), palm oil derivatives (RM6.3 billion), cosmetics and personal care (RM2.2 billion), industrial chemicals (RM1.7 billion) and pharmaceuticals (RM700 million).