MIHAS 2026 opens at MITEC in Kuala Lumpur on 23 September and runs for four days. It is the 22nd edition of the Malaysia International Halal Showcase, hosted by MITI and organised by MATRADE.
The exhibition hours are the same every day, 10am to 6pm. Three of the four days are trade days. The fourth is open to the public.
MATRADE expects the show to produce RM4.50 billion in total sales, and it is chasing RM2 billion of that from the buyer-matching programme that runs alongside the exhibition floor.
What MIHAS 2026 is, and when it runs
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Edition | 22nd Malaysia International Halal Showcase |
| Dates | 23 to 26 September 2026 |
| Trade days | 23, 24 and 25 September, 10am to 6pm |
| Public day | 26 September, 10am to 6pm |
| Venue | MITEC, Kuala Lumpur |
| Theme | “Shaping Trust, Driving Resilience” |
| Host and organiser | Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI), with MATRADE as organiser |
| Total sales expected | RM4.50 billion |
The showcase has run since 2004 and now spans 14 sectors, from food and beverages through pharmaceuticals and Islamic finance to modest fashion, personal care, technology, services and Muslim-friendly tourism. MATRADE bills it as a Guinness World Records holder and the largest halal trade platform of its kind.
Three of the four days are for trade visitors. If you are not exhibiting and not buying, the public day on 26 September is the one you can walk in on.
The number MATRADE is chasing
The exhibition hall is only half of MIHAS. The other half is the International Sourcing Programme, or INSP, which puts pre-qualified overseas buyers into pre-arranged one-on-one meetings with Malaysian sellers. Meeting slots are limited and allocated by MATRADE’s matching process rather than first-come.
MATRADE chief executive Abu Bakar Yusof put the programme’s record this way: “Since the inception of MIHAS in 2004, the International Sourcing Programme (INSP) has generated over RM20.62 billion in export sales for Malaysian companies, with the participation of nearly 8,000 international buyers, benefiting 10,600 Malaysian sellers through 67,200 structured business meetings.”
| Measure | Cumulative, 2004 to date | 2026 edition |
|---|---|---|
| Export sales | Over RM20.62 billion | RM2 billion targeted |
| International buyers | Nearly 8,000 | About 300 targeted, 50 of them premium |
| Malaysian sellers | 10,600 | Not stated |
| Business meetings | 67,200 | Not stated |
| Buyer origin | — | Interest from over 500 buyers across 55 economies |
Divide the cumulative sales by the cumulative meetings and each structured meeting has been worth roughly RM307,000 in reported sales. That is an average across 22 years and every sector, not a promise about your first meeting. It does tell you what a room full of matched buyers is for.
Two more figures are worth holding on to. MATRADE says 15 per cent of the buyers who registered interest this year are returning buyers. And INSP MIHAS 2025 generated RM3.63 billion, which is the number the RM2 billion target is being measured against.
What an SME can do this month
Here is the awkward part. INSP registration closed on 31 July, through the MATRADE portal and the MADANI Digital Trade Platform. If you did not register, you cannot buy your way into a meeting slot now.
Two things are still open to you.
Visit. The public day on 26 September is exactly what it sounds like, and the site’s own call to action is to register as a visitor. Walking the floor to see how competitors present their packaging, pricing and certifications is cheaper than most market research, and the trade days are open to registered trade visitors.
Claim back what you have already spent. This is the part most SME owners leave on the table. MATRADE’s Market Development Grant reimburses a share of what you spend on export promotion, and trade fairs sit squarely inside it.
On MATRADE’s own page: “The lifetime limit of MDG is RM300,000”. It is a reimbursable grant, not a loan, and MATRADE adds that reimbursements are subject to the availability of government funds.
The grant has run since 2002 and it is open to Malaysian SMEs, professional service providers operating as a sole proprietor or partnership, trade and industry associations, chambers of commerce and professional bodies, and co-operatives. Claimable activity includes taking part in international trade fairs and exhibitions in Malaysia or overseas, Trade and Investment Missions, Export Acceleration Missions, international conferences held overseas, listing fees for Made-in-Malaysia products in overseas supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail centres or boutique outlets, international certification for exports, and both virtual trade fairs and virtual business-to-business meetings.
The rule that decides whether you get paid is the clock. For an event, the claim has to be in within 30 calendar days after the final day. For an overseas retail listing, the 30 days start on the first day of listing. For export certification, they start on the date the certification is approved.
MIHAS closes on 26 September. If you exhibited there, your claim window runs to 26 October 2026.
- Register on the platform first. Applications moved to the MADANI Digital Trade Platform on 13 March 2025. Go to madanitrade.com and create an account. This is not the same portal as MATRADE’s own site, which catches people out.
- Keep the paper as you spend, not after. The grant reimburses, so you pay first. Invoices, receipts, payment records and proof you actually took part are the whole file.
- Check your remaining limit. RM300,000 is a lifetime ceiling per applicant, not a per-claim allowance. MATRADE runs a balance check at its own page for this.
- File inside 30 days of the last day. Not 30 working days. Calendar days, from the closing date of the event.
- Treat approval as discretionary. Meeting the criteria does not guarantee payment, and the fund itself can be exhausted.
One distinction worth keeping straight, because the two get mixed up in conversation. The Market Development Grant is MATRADE’s export-promotion scheme. It is not the same thing as the MDEC-run digital grant for small businesses we covered in 2025, which pays for digital services rather than trade-fair participation.
What we could not verify
MATRADE’s Market Development Grant page states the lifetime cap but does not publish the per-activity reimbursement limits. Those live in a separate guidelines document that we could not open, so the widely repeated figures of RM5,000 for a fair in Malaysia and RM25,000 for one overseas are not printed here. Check them against the guidelines before you budget on them.
We also could not read a published exhibitor count for the 2026 show. The showcase site carries counters for deals, booths and visitors, and every one of them read zero when we captured the page, so we have left them out rather than quote a number that was not there.
The 55-economy and 500-buyer figures are MATRADE’s own and describe registered interest at the time of its 8 July release, not confirmed attendance. Expect them to move.
Exporting through online marketplaces?
Big Domain is an Alibaba.com channel partner in Malaysia and works with exporters on listing, verification and cross-border storefronts. If your next market is an online one rather than a trade hall, that is a separate conversation from this one.
About BD Media
BD Media is the editorial desk of Big Domain. We report on the rules, deadlines and schemes that Malaysian businesses have to work with, and we name our sources so you can check them. Every figure above was verified at the point of writing.
Sources
- MIHAS official showcase site, home-page banner and exhibition-hours block, retrieved 18 September 2026 — mihas.com.my. Edition, dates, venue and daily hours.
- MATRADE media release, “Malaysian Companies Invited to Register for INSP MIHAS 2026”, 8 July 2026, retrieved 18 September 2026 — mihas.com.my/news/insp-mihas-2026-registration-open. The INSP cumulative and 2026 target figures, the chief executive’s quote, the sector list and the 31 July registration deadline.
- MATRADE, Market Development Grant page, retrieved 18 September 2026 — matrade.gov.my. The RM300,000 lifetime limit, eligibility, claimable activities and the 30-day claim windows.
- MATRADE MDG balance check, retrieved 18 September 2026 — matrade.gov.my/mdgcheckbalance.
- MADANI Digital Trade Platform, retrieved 18 September 2026 — madanitrade.com. Where MDG applications moved on 13 March 2025.
Not verified: the per-activity MDG reimbursement limits, which sit in the MDG guidelines document we could not open, and any exhibitor count for the 2026 show.
