KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 20 (Bernama) -- A total of 71 Malaysian companies and four government agencies are participating in one of the world’s largest annual food and beverage trade (F&B) fairs - the Gulfood 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from Feb 20-24, 2023. 

The Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) said the participants would take centre stage at the exhibition to showcase a wide range of quality, innovative and competitive Malaysian halal F&B products.

Under the Malaysian pavilion, there will be 11 exhibitors who are participating under the SME Bank’s Business Export Programme (BEP), a structured intervention programme by the Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development (MECD), spearheaded by SME Bank in collaboration with MATRADE. 

"With the growing global halal market, companies participating under the BEP programme can benefit from Gulfood as all its participating companies are halal certified," it said in a statement.

SME Bank group president and chief executive officer Datuk Wira Aria Putera Ismail said the bank would expect the 11 BEP participants to generate potential sales of RM10 million. 

He said that a total of 47 BEP participants had participated in a series of export acceleration missions organised jointly with MECD and MATRADE, generating export sales worth RM240 million to date. 

These export sales have exceeded the target sales of RM47 million for new export market penetration and overseas accreditation set by the end of the BEP in 2024. 

As at December 2022, nine BEP participants have successfully secured financing amounting to RM91.7 million from the bank,” he said. 

Meanwhile, MATRADE director of halal, F&B and agro-based section Remee Yaakub said the agency was committed to providing suitable and effective platforms for Malaysian exporters to penetrate the overseas market.

“Malaysia’s participation in Gulfood for the 19th time this year demonstrates that this iconic event serves as a great platform for Malaysia to highlight the wide variety of high-quality products offered by Malaysian companies to buyers in Dubai and neighbouring countries in the Middle East and North Africa region.

"As the global leader in the halal industry, we will leverage on Gulfood to promote participation in Malaysia International Halal Showcase (MIHAS) 2023 which will be held from Sept 12-15 in Kuala Lumpur," he said.