Alexandre Rocha
São Paulo – Malaysia is interested in importing halal meat produced in Brazil. Last week the country deputy minister of Industry and Foreign Trade, Husni Hanadzlah, was in São Paulo, Brazil, participating in the 11th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) and he took the opportunity to visit the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (CCAB) and learn a little more about Brazilian meat packing plants that produce beef and poultry according to Islamic law.
Brazil is already a traditional meat exporter to the Arabs, therefore various companies are halal certified by Muslim authorities. Although Malaysia is not an Arab country, almost half the population, of 24.3 million people (2002 figures supplied by the World Bank), is Muslim.
"The government is formulating a halal food policy," stated the country deputy minister to ANBA. To him, there is a great market for such products, not only internally, but also for export to other countries in Asia.
According to Hanadzlah, Malaysia is a great exporter of industrialized food, and foreign trade of these products generated around US$ 1.5 billion in 2003. The country is studying the possibility of using bovine and chicken meat from Brazil as raw material for their industry.
The Malaysian government has its eye on the Asian market. According to the deputy minister, there are around 220 million Muslims in Asia, 50 million in China alone. Malaysia already has its main trade partners among the countries in the region. According to Hanadzlah, in 2003 Malaysian trade with the remaining Asian countries totalled US$ 46 billion, China was responsible for a total of US$ 14 billion.
As part of the strategy for exploration of the market of products processed according to Islamic demands, the Malaysian government is going to promote an international halal product fair in August.
Malaysia is located in Southeast Asia and is divided into two parts. Most of the population is concentrated in the continental portion, which borders Thailand, in the south of the Malay Peninsula. That is where country capital Kuala Lumpur is located. The other part of the country is in the North of Borneo Island.
The Asian country already has strong trade relations with Brazil. Between January and April this year, Brazilian export to the country has already totalled US$ 60.8 million, the main items in the trade basket were wrought iron, sugar, soy oil, iron and steel bars, and leathers. Imports in turn totalled US$ 158.2 million, mostly natural rubber, microprocessors, integrated circuits, rubber gloves, and micro-controllers.
