HDC-JHA partnership to expand, connect halal ecosystem communities in 2020

From Niam Seet Wei

OSAKA (Japan), Dec 13 -- The year of 2020 will see Malaysia’s Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC) forging its first partnership with Japanese peer, Japan Halal Association (JHA) to pave the way for a bigger halal market space in Japan.

Under the partnership, HDC chief executive officer Hairol Ariffein Sahari said both parties would collaborate in organising a series of halal best practices knowledge exchange activities in Japan through the HDC’s Halal Industry Expert Development Programme.

“Focus would be on facilitating the on-boarding of Japanese businesses specifically in pharmaceutical, logistics and meat-based industries onto the halal space,” he told Bernama on the sidelines of a four-day business trip in Japan here, today.

He said the programme was part of HDC's big moving forward plan to create more mutual business opportunities for halal industry players of both countries, which later could be translated into tangible outcomes including investment, trade, high-income job opportunities and technology transfer.

According to JHA chairperson Hind Hitomi Remon, the association used to receive halal certification requests mainly from restaurant operators or raw material producers for export purposes.

“However, demand for specific halal certification in pharmaceutical, logistics and slaughtering has been on the rise in Japan in recent years,” she said.

Remon said another aim of the knowledge exchange activities under the collaboration was to clear the air of misconception among Japanese businesses that halal was linked to terrorism, or halal certification alone meant a guarantee for sales boost.

“The programme would be helpful to send the right message for them about the correct use of halal value propositions in businesses, as well as the misconception about Islam, of which many of them link to terrorism,” she said.

Due to the small Muslim population of 150,000 in Japan in contrast to the total population of about 124 million in the whole country, Remon admitted that awareness on halal values was still at the infancy stage in Japan.

“But we are positive that the programmes, in collaboration with HDC next year would be able to help improve the overall halal industry in both countries moving forward,” she said.

JHA is one of the most widely recognised halal certification bodies in the world, not to mention Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Middle East countries.

-- BERNAMA