CAPITALISE ON GROWING DEMAND FOR HALAL PRODUCTS IN CHINA, MIDA TELLS FIRMS

From Premalatha Jayaraman

XIAMEN, Sept 9 (Bernama) -- Malaysian firms should capitalise on the growing
demand for halal products in China, said 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 Wednesday.

The fair starts Sept 8 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.

He said MIDA, which has two 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.

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.

-- BERNAMA