Bangladesh wants to get a slice of the $600 billion world halal food market, by supplying beef and mutton from animals slaughtered as per Muslim sharia law, a senior business leader said on Sunday.
Muslims around the world and many non-Muslims as well crave halal food, especially red meat, for religious and health reasons. Currently Malaysia tops the halal food business in the world. "If Malaysia co-operates with Bangladesh, we can have a share in the booming halal food markets," said Syed Moazzam Hossain, president of Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
He told Reuters that Malaysia was one of Bangladesh's largest investment partners, with total investment of about $1.5 billion.
The chamber in collaboration with Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation arranged a three-day exhibition of Malaysian products in Dhaka, which ended on Sunday. "We have a certification problem for halal food marketing and we need Malaysia's assistance to overcome it," Moazzam said without elaborating.
Malaysia needs 1.1 million workers and presently is hiring them mainly from Nepal, Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. "We are working hard to become a major source for providing workers to Malaysia and expect to achieve its by this year," he said. Bangladesh is Malaysia's third largest trading partner in South Asia after India and Pakistan.
The Bangladesh-Malaysia annual trade volume is about $1.3 billion, with the balance in favour of Malaysia. Malaysia exported goods worth $1.26 billion to Bangladesh with 57 percent growth while the country imported goods from Bangladesh worth $26.5 million with 22.9 percent growth.
Bangladesh imports mainly refined petroleum oil, palm oil, chemical and chemical products, electrical and electronic products from Malaysia, and exports textile products such as garments and towels, crabs, shrimps, fish, agro products and handicraft.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.