Photo: Khmer Times/Chor Sokunthea
Malaysia has pledged to share its decades of halal-industry expertise with Cambodia, as official figures show the Kingdom's halal certifications surging amid growing regional cooperation on the sector.
The pledge was made at the Malaysia-Cambodia Halal Forum: Unlocking Opportunities in the Global Halal Economy, held at the Hyatt Regency Phnom Penh on Tuesday. The one-day forum was organised by the Malaysian Embassy in Phnom Penh together with the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) and the Malaysian Business Chamber in Cambodia (MBCC).
Malaysia's Ambassador to Cambodia, Shaharuddin Onn, urged the Kingdom to draw on Malaysia's halal infrastructure, certification experience and trade promotion networks to build its own halal industry. Malaysia has topped the Global Islamic Economy Indicator for 12 consecutive years, he noted, having built its halal ecosystem over decades covering standards, certification, industry development, trade promotion, finance and international market access.
"I believe that together, we can collaborate by pairing Cambodia's ambition with Malaysia's experience to build a highly competitive regional halal value chain," he said, addressing a global halal consumer market estimated at US$3.5 trillion and projected to reach US$5 trillion by 2030.
According to Cambodia's Ministry of Commerce, the Kingdom issued 110 halal certificates covering around 1,000 products in the first nine months of 2026, a rise of 92.98 per cent year-on-year. Ngoun Sophearum, the ministry's Director of the Department of Halal Affairs, said Cambodia is pursuing a Mutual Recognition Agreement between the Cambodian Halal Steering Committee, chaired by Commerce Minister Cham Nimul, and JAKIM, to facilitate exports, though Cambodia must first meet JAKIM's criteria before seeking formal recognition.
Recent reforms under Cambodia's Inter-Ministerial Prakas No. 070 have cut certification processing time from 90 days to 60 working days and extended validity from one year to two, with the exception of slaughterhouses, which remain subject to annual renewal. The ministry is running training campaigns across Phnom Penh and five provinces through December.
On the trade side, MBCC president Tan Khee Meng proposed a "Malaysia + 1" model pairing Malaysian industry networks with Cambodian agricultural assets such as rice, cassava, seafood and livestock, pointing to Cambodia's trade policies, young demographic and growing middle-income group as advantages for Malaysian halal manufacturers looking to produce locally and export to third markets.
Bilateral trade between Malaysia and Cambodia surpassed US$1 billion last year, and continued to climb in the first half of 2026, rising 51.1 per cent year-on-year to US$833 million, compared with US$501 million in the same period last year.
