KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 (Bernama) -- The halal food industry is a potentialsector to be tapped in China's Guangxi region with its large Muslimcommunity.

Guangxi governor Lu Bing told reporters this after paying a courtesy callon Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of International Trade andIndustry, Datin Paduka Dr Tan Yee Kew, here Thursday.

Lu said Guangxi has a population of 48.92 million, of which 100,000 areMuslims, and there is also demand for halal food from non-Muslimcommunities as well.

He called on halal producers to take part in the coming Asean-China Expoto be held in Guangxi in October this year.

"With the current relationship with Malaysia, we expect a boost inbilateral trade as well as business opportunities," he said, adding thattrade between Guangxi and Malaysia amounted to around US$77 million lastyear.

The exposition, to be held from Oct 19 to 22, will focus on promoting fivemain products, namely machinery, electronics, building materials,agricultural and pharmacy.

Meanwhile, Tan said the event would be a good platform for halal foodproducers to introduce their products and find business partners.

"With our halal logo being well recognised in the food industry, foodmanufacturers should take this opportunity to find partners for long-terminvestments," she said.

She added that China at the moment is Malaysia's fourth largest tradingpartner, accounting for 8.1 percent of the country's global trade lastyear.

Trade between the two countries has grown from US$2.4 billion in 1995 toUS$18.8 billion last year.

Tan said China is also interested to import some of Malaysia's naturalresources and commodities like petroleum and palm oil as well aselectronic parts.

-- BERNAMA