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As outlined in the Third National Agricultural Policy (NAP3), there is a need to enhance competitiveness and to increase value-addedness to the whole supply chain as well as to position Malaysia as an international halal food hub. This seems to be a noble idea but the paper argues that its implementation as a national policy must still be critically assessed and evaluated as it has far-reaching implications for the national economy. This paper discusses the concepts and trends related to supply chains and then relates it to several possible "hub" concepts that is relevant to Malaysia's policy to become an international halal food hub. The paper then provides an overview of the domestic halal meat industry, including its present structure, major companies, achievement of food safety, quality and halal certification and major issues faced by the industry. It then discusses the potentials of global meat products. Finally, brief policy considerations are discussed.
Keywords: Halal food hub, meat-based production, and supply-chain.
I. Introduction
Malaysia's Third National Agricultural Policy (NAP3) 1998-2010 was formulated to address the challenges of increasing food import bills and trade deficits that had constrained the progress of its agriculture sector. In particular, a product-based approach, with more emphasis on market demand and consumer preferences, was proposed to increase competitiveness and profitability (Rahimah 2000). Agriculture and food production is expected to become more specialized to meet the needs of domestic and global market segments, stimulate the production of high value-added quality products, and to facilitate product differentiation.
The development of the halal food product industry was highlighted as one of the important strategies in the plan. Malaysia is keen to develop her potential as an international Halal food hub because of the following reasons: (i) the country is recognized as a truly Islamic country; (ii) the country possesses raw materials, supporting infrastructure, and processing technologies to produce and market halal products; (iii) there is worldwide recognition of its halal certification due to its stringent criteria and is also sought after by other countries; and (iv) there is strong commitment from the government (MoA 2004).
The strategy of becoming an international halal food hub was reiterated in every budget speech over the last few years. However, industry response towards the various policies promoting the...