Malaysia to boost halal pharma as exports plunge and investment into dedicated hubs rise only slightly in 2020
KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s halal authorities are stepping up efforts to boost healthcare and pharma as exports dropped by almost a quarter last year and domestic investment into dedicated parks increased only slightly.
A year ago, the Halal Development Corporation (HDC) began to brace for the worst. Speaking to Salaam Gateway last April, chief executive Hairol Ariffein Sahari admitted that the government agency charged with promoting Malaysian halal products and expertise to the world had revised its export growth goal from 8% to just 3% for the year, based on 2019’s 40.2 billion ringgit ($9.7 billion) total.
Since then, long periods of lockdowns in Malaysia and many of its export partners, along with manifold logistics disruptions, have taken a much more profound toll than HDC first anticipated, leading to halal shipments contracting by 24% to 30.5 billion ringgit for the whole of 2020, Hairol announced on Tuesday (March 23).
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