Mohd Nur Khalid Hj Ilias (L), Managing Director of Sahamada Corporation Sdn Bhd and Domalux, General Director of Halal Vietnam Trading Construction Import Export Company Limited after signing the Memorandum of Agreement. —  Picture: Courtesy of Abdul Rashyid Hj Osman

BRUNEI — Brunei firm SAHAMADA Corporation Sdn Bhd, a local company, yesterday signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Halal Vietnam Trading Construction Import Export Company Limited (IMEX).

With the signing of the MoA, IMEX will become the distributor for Sahamada's different chili sauces and crackers under the brand of ‘CINTA' in Viet Nam for three years.

In an interview with The Brunei Times, Mohd Nur Khalid Hj Ilias, Managing Director of Sahamada, said they decided to explore the opportunity of penetrating the market in Viet Nam due to the potential of a high demand for their products and a higher chance of them going into other markets from Viet Nam.

"Vietnam is growing in terms of industry and it's also easier to penetrate the market around the region. From Viet Nam, the company can bring its products to the neighbouring countries like Laos and Myanmar," he said. Sahamada will start exporting its products to Viet Nam sometime in April, starting out with one container, equivalent to 30,000 bottles of chili sauce and this supply will increase in the following months depending on market demand.

Mohd Nur Khalid said that while they plan to export to Japan in the future, they need to work on upgrading their packaging and producing more innovative products in order to compete with the market in Japan. "We're now in discussions with a company in Indonesia, we hope to be able to start exports in the near future but we're still sorting out the details. It seems like a viable market because of the population size and the food is quite similar to ours," he said.

Abdullah Abdul Rahman, Director of Syariah at IMEX said that they hope the signing of the MoA will motivate other SMEs in the country to tap the market in Viet Nam as there is a huge demand of Halal products.

"Even non-Muslims prefer Halal products now because of the cleanliness that it guarantees," he said. Signing the MoA between Sahamada and IMEX was Mohd Nur Khalid Hj Ilias, Managing Director of Sahamada and Domalux, General Director of IMEX, witnessed by Siti Norhamidah Hj Ilias, Marketing Director of Sahamada.

A second MoA was signed between Sahamada and Golden Corporation Sdn Bhd, under which Golden Corporation will supply raw materials such as blue shrimps and fish for the production of different flavours of crackers to be sold in Vietnam under the brand ‘CINTA'.

The Golden Corporation was represented by Chuang His San, Managing Director and witnessed by Karen Yap. — The Brunei Times