Chinese firm to export halal spices from Brunei

Speaking to The Brunei Times, chairman of Ruian Logistics Group Chen Min said his company plans to take advantage of Brunei’s well-known halal certification mark as it looks to enter the halal market for the first time.
“Brunei’s halal certification has a very high standard and is highly-recognised among the Muslim world. The whole Muslim market encompasses more than 1.6 billion people around the world and Islam remains the fastest growing religion currently, so it is a large market for us.
“We chose Brunei because of the stable nature of its politics and economy but of course, the halal certification was the biggest factor for us to go into this as we want to penetrate into the halal market with Brunei’s expertise in halal certification,” he added.
On the sidelines of the ongoing 13th China-Asean Expo 2016 in Nanning, the company has signed a letter of intent on its proposed spice processing plant in Brunei.
Chen said the company’s targeted markets will be neighbouring countries with significant Muslim populations such as Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
 “The spices will be packaged as an all-new brand that will be relevant to the local markets and from it, we can also expand our offerings to other types of products in the future such as perfumes,” he said.
“Spices are a large part of the local culture not just in Brunei, but also in other Asean countries, which is a big market, so we are confident of this venture,” he said.
The chairman said the venture will create over 300 jobs ranging from manufacturing to logistical support for the local workforce in the near future.
“The plant will take about six months to construct but we cannot yet say when we can begin construction as we are still at the planning stage. However, we are keen to start the operations in Brunei as soon as we can.
“We are targeting to bring in the raw spices by November this year where it will be processed by our existing local partners while at the same time planning for the construction of our own spice processing plant,” he added.
Chen said once the construction of the plant has been completed, it is projected to generate $30 million (Bt1.05 billion) per year in its initial phase.
“However, if our expansion plans are realised eventually, the output might total $1.5 billion in value, which is roughly equivalent to our company’s entire current annual export value,” he said.
Chen added that several potential sites for the spice processing factory in the Brunei-Muara district have been identified but the company has yet to make a final decision on where it will be located.
The chairman said Ruian Logistics Group was established in 2004 with a core business in logistics and a diversified portfolio of commercial interests, including the trade of spice commodities since 2010.