RIYADH: Malaysia should take the opportunity to expand its halal pharmaceutical market especially into the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries following its growing demand globally, said Halal Development Corporation Bhd (HDC).
Chief executive officer Hairol Ariffein Sahari said Saudi Arabia plays an important role as the central gateway for halal pharmaceuticals to ensure Malaysia, as well as other Asean countries, enter into the MENA region.
“The demand and purchasing power for Halal products, as well as halal pharmaceuticals, is very high within the MENA region and globally. It was reported that the size of the global pharmaceutical industry hit US$1.6 trillion, of which 10 per cent or US$160 billion are halal.
“Malaysia is expected to reach US$5.9 billion by 2030, so this is where we can work together with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) to get our halal pharmaceutical products enter this new market among the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Saudi Arabia,” he told Bernama.
Hairol Ariffein believes that the booming halal pharmaceuticals industry could benefit Malaysia in terms of trade and investment as well as Halal ingredients innovation.
However, Malaysia still lacks Halal pharmaceutical industry players, therefore, he suggests that the government should offer more incentives related to the industry.
“Only a few halal pharmaceutical companies in Malaysia fully adopt halal. The offered incentives for halal pharmaceutical is very limited. It’s only for those established companies or set up their companies in the dedicated halal industry area.
“So, the government should expand the incentive offering to those operating even outside the dedicated alignment systems,” he explained.
As such, Hairol Ariffein said HDC is working together with the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) to introduce future dedicated incentives for high value added investment aligned with the national New Investment Policy. – BERNAMA
