Vietnam-Malaysia has great potential for developing the Halal food industry

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien. (Source: Ministry of Industry and Trade)

Currently, in Vietnam, the demand for Halal food (the food industry for Muslims) is increasing due to tourists and foreigners coming to live and work. However, the percentage of Vietnamese food that is certified Halal is only 20%. Therefore, the Vietnamese side hopes that Malaysia can help develop this food industry, contributing to the goal of bilateral trade turnover reaching 18 billion USD by 2025.

This information was emphasized by Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien at a meeting with Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI) Mohamed Azmin Ali within the framework of the official state visit of Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri. Yaakob came to Vietnam from March 20-22, 2022.

According to Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali, the Halal food market is a global market with a very fast growth rate. In 2018, the global Halal industry was worth approximately $2,440 billion.

The Halal food and beverage industry alone accounts for 56% of the value, equivalent to USD 1.369 billion and is expected to grow to USD 1,972 billion by 2024 with a growth rate of about 6.3%.

Minister Mohamed affirmed that Malaysian businesses are also willing to share experiences and know-how to help Vietnamese businesses easily access Halal certification.

Notably, the upcoming Seagame 31 held in Vietnam will welcome many tourists wishing to consume Halal certified products. This will be an opportunity for cooperation between Vietnam and Malaysia to build a Halal ecosystem commensurate with the potential between the two countries.

At the meeting, the two ministers also discussed that the Vietnam – Malaysia Joint Trade Commission is an effective cooperation mechanism between the two countries. This is an opportunity for the two countries to evaluate their cooperation in the past time and set out directions for future cooperation.

In 2021, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, the Joint Committee could not hold a meeting as usual. As the co-chair of the Committee, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien expressed his wish that the two sides should soon agree on the contents of the program and promote technical meetings to prepare for the official meeting of the Committee.

Agreeing with this idea, Minister Mohamed also hopes that the annual meeting of the Joint Committee will be held as soon as possible.

In addition, the Malaysian minister proposed to discuss methods to reduce the trade deficit, and the Malaysian side studied potential new products of Vietnam that could be imported into the country.

Regarding the cooperation in petroleum supply on the agenda of the Joint Committee in the context of the world oil market’s uncertainties, Minister Mohamed said he had been in contact with the Petrogas Corporation of Vietnam. Malaysia.

In particular, this company said that it can immediately supply 300,000 barrels of oil to Vietnam, if Vietnam has a larger oil demand, the two sides can continue to negotiate.

Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI) Mohamed Azmin Ali. (Source: Ministry of Industry and Trade)

Malaysia is currently the 2nd largest trading partner of Vietnam in ASEAN and the 9th in the world. Moreover, Vietnam is Malaysia’s third largest trading partner in ASEAN.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, two-way trade turnover will reach 12.5 billion USD in 2021, up 25.3% over the same period in 2020.

Vietnam exports mainly to Malaysia phones and components, crude oil, rice, coffee, seafood; imports mainly computers and electronic products, machinery and equipment, petroleum, household electrical goods and components, chemicals.

Particularly in the first two months of 2022, the total import-export turnover of Vietnam – Malaysia reached nearly $2.2 billion, up 20% over the same period in 2021.

Regarding investment, Malaysia is the second largest investor in ASEAN in Vietnam after Singapore, ranking 10th out of 140 countries and territories investing in Vietnam, with 668 valid projects, total registered capital of 13 billion USD.

Malaysia has invested in 32/63 provinces of Vietnam; in which the head is City. Ho Chi Minh City, followed by Tra Vinh, Hanoi and other localities.

Along with that, Vietnam has 21 valid investment projects in Malaysia with a total registered capital of 853 million USD, ranking 9th out of 78 countries and territories investing abroad.