KUALA LUMPUR: Japan’s NH Foods Ltd aims to export halal frozen food manufactured by its state-of-the-art plant in Pulau Indah, Selangor, in the second half of 2019.
The food manufacturing plant is 51 per cent-owned by NH Foods, and the rest by Lay Hong Bhd.
Director and Senior Managing Executive Officer Hiroji Okoso said the company is optimistic about its long-term prospects after expanding its presence to Malaysia, primarily driven by the enormous growth potential in the domestic and export markets for its further processed foods.
“With a production capacity of 1,200 tonnes per month for the first phase, this halal frozen food manufacturing facility was designed to cater not only to the local market, but for export markets such as the Middle East countries, Singapore and Japan,” he said in a statement today.
He said the company forecasted the plant to export 60 per cent of its products in 2019.
“Domestically, the demand for premium quality and convenience food is growing and due to the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympics, we expect a strong interest in halal food from mainstream retailers and food services. This plant is just in time for the underserved market,” he added.
Okoso said the complementary track record and expertise of the company’s research and development (R and D) would helped it to introduce high-quality, diverse and innovative food products.
Covering an area of 1.85 hectares, the plant’s production capacity can be increased to 2,000 tonnes per month via expansion into phase two.
Meanwhile, according to the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation, Malaysia’s halal product exports to Japan were valued at RM2.67 billion in 2016, up 20.8 per cent from the previous year.
Moving towards 2020, halal product exports are anticipated to continue growing at a similar momentum. - Bernama
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