Matrade Partners Northport, Kontena Nasional & Weifang Port To Attract Halal Product Exporters

KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 (Bernama) – Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade) has collaborated with Northport (M) Bhd, Kontena Nasional Bhd and Weifang Sime Darby Port Co Ltd to organise a trade talk to attract Malaysian halal product exporters who are interested to penetrate China’s market. In a statement Friday, Matrade said, the talk, entitled ‘Halal Silk Route – How Malaysian Exporters Can Benefit’, was part of the initiative taken to promote the export of halal Malaysian products to China with the intention of enlarging Malaysia’s share of trade in global halal products which were estimated to grow to US$60 billion (US$1 = RM3.92) by 2020. “In May 2017, Northport and Weifang Port signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) during the One Belt One Road Forum in Beijing, China, of which the two ports will co-operate in port management and facilitate halal trade shipment between Malaysia and China,” it said. The MoU has materialised into a new service jointly-offered by Northport, Kontena Nasional and Weifang Port which provided end-to-end and hassle-free export services for Malaysian exporters which would commence in April 2018 culminating in a trade exhibition in Weifang on April 27-28, 2018, it said. “Exporters now only need to deal with One-Stop Centre at Menara Matrade, which will ensure the haulage, pre-clearance of documentation, shipping, container handling, product labelling, warehousing and product delivery to customers in Weifang, China,” it said. It said Weifang, one of the direct routes into the Muslim population in Shaanxi, Qinghai, Ningxia, Gansu and Xinjiang regions in China and the collaboration between Northport and Weifang Port, was the first step towards the creation of a “Halal Silk Route” to link the 2.1 billion Muslim population through the trade of halal products. Malaysia has had the first-mover advantage on the trade of halal products with Jakim’s halal certification being accepted worldwide and its strategic location in the centre of the global Muslim population, it said. – BERNAMA