Matrade urges halal SMEs to leverage technology to enhance productivity

This would allow the SMEs, the nation's economic backbone, to bring their product offerings with the latest technology to the world, said Chief Executive Officer Dr Mohd Shahreen Zainooreen Madros.

"Malaysia is rich in its biodiversity, resulting in a myriad of halal products offered by local players to the world.

"With technology, Malaysian producers can greatly add value to their halal products, which have already been known to have the highest level of integrity in cleanliness and quality," he said at a press conference here today.

Mohd Shahreen said, MATRADE, as Malaysia's trade promotion agency, had emphasised the importance of Malaysian companies to invest more in technology.

Head of Halal Research at Universiti Putra Malaysia's Halal Products Research Institute, Prof Dr Mohd Nasir Desa, who was also present at the event, said the university had been working closely with the government to assist local companies to incorporate high technology in the development of their halal products.

There were also representatives from SME Instrument, an association under the European Union Commission. SME Instrument is one of the participants at the Malaysia International Halal Showcase (MIHAS) 2017, placed under the Europe Pavilion.

Two of the European companies, Avanticell Science Ltd (UK) and Uniq Bioresearch Ltd (Finland) both shared their experiences in capitalising on technology to capture the halal market.

Avanticell Chief Scientific Officer, Colin Wilde, said Malaysia had strength in the halal industry and was a gateway into ASEAN.

"By participating in MIHAS, we have been able to meet producers from Malaysia who can be our business partners. Their products work well with our technology and can do well in Europe too.

"We believe that halal products are the best in quality and cleanliness, and technology can further support these products to make them even better," Wilde said.

For Uniq Bioresearch, its representative, Sari Akras, mentioned that her brand also found MIHAS to be the perfect platform for the company to work with Malaysian companies.

"We are truly impressed to see a lot of products that could be exported to Europe using our technology.

"We are now discussing with a few parties to realise this plan," she said.