WEDNESDAY, 7 SEPTEMBER 2022, KUALA LUMPUR: HYT Cross Border Sdn Bhd (HYT), an e-Commerce cross border facilitator, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Halal Development Corporation Berhad (HDC) and Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) to facilitate its Halal Integrated Platform (HIP) and Malaysian MSMEs to perform cross border e-commerce export to China.

The MoU was signed by HYT’s Managing Director, Dato Danny Tan, HDC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Hairol Ariffein Sahari, and MATRADE Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Datuk Mohd Mustafa Abdul Aziz.

The MoU is the head start of HYT’s assistance for Malaysian exporters to access China’s market through the Malaysia Halal Pavillion on JD.com a marketplace. The impact of this boarding facilitation is to create sustainable export for Halal Malaysian products to China.

For this purpose, HYT will provide end-to-end support including onboarding, demand generation, marketing, payment and fulfilment services for Halal Malaysian products entering China.

Kyle Keah, CEO of HYT said, “There is a growing demand for Malaysian products in China, especially when it comes to halal products. As the domestic market in China continues to grow with rising consumption capability, HIP members can use the HYT services as a platform to tap into this growing demand, expose their products to Chinese consumers and increase their export sales.”

Malaysia’s 2021 Halal export performance rose by 19% to RM36.3 billion from RM30.5 billion a year earlier. This increase proves the importance of the Halal industry to the Malaysian economy, despite the challenges posed by the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic including China.

MATRADE Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Mohd Mustafa Abdul Aziz said, “The collaboration between MATRADE, HDC and HYT Cross Border to showcase Malaysian Halal products on digital platform reflects MATRADE’s continuous efforts to cater for Malaysian MSME needs in leveraging the latest technology and trend to increase their presence in China market.”

The role of HDC is to increase the numbers of SMEs involved in the halal industry in Malaysia to 50,000 by 2030 with the aim of assisting these firms to get certified for venture into exports. To date, only 10,000 SMEs had secured the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) Halal certification.

“China has overtaken Singapore as Malaysia’s largest export destination in 2021 by RM4.6 billion and RM3.7 billion respectively followed by Japan, United States and Indonesia. Cross border trade is vital for HIP members. This MOU will allow quality Halal Malaysian-made products to reach the consumers in China,” said Hairol Arrfein Sahari, CEO of HDC. 

HIP will be the one-stop online platform to connect industry players to the global Halal market. The platform functions as the catalyst for more business transactions within the Halal ecosystem, both online and offline, which advocates a vibrant business environment and enhance the traceability of Halal products in the market. It will also include other services provided by HDC such as Halal Parks, the Halal Training Institute, Halal Consultancy and Advisory, and the Halal Knowledge Centre.