Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation

FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 2018, KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) will be coordinating the participation of 28 Malaysian companies at the 123rd China Import and Export (Canton) Fair, Phase 3 (Spring Session) 2018 from 1 – 5 May 2018 in Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.

The event to be organised by the China Foreign Trade Centre (CFTC) and hosted by the Ministry of Commerce, P.R. China and People’s Government of Guangdong Province is the largest exhibition in China. It is held biannually in Guangzhou, every spring (April-May) and autumn (October-November), with a long history of 61 years since 1957. This Fair has attracted many international buyers from all over the world and has become one of the largest product-sourcing events in the world.

Mr Ong Yew Chee, the Director of China and Northeast Asia Section in MATRADE remarked that “the objective of MATRADE’s participation in the Canton Fair is to further enhance Malaysia’s exports to the China market and the world, taking advantage of the strong presence of foreign and Chinese buyers and to leverage on this strategic platform to promote the image of Malaysia as a reliable source of imports for high quality and competitive products and services.”

The Malaysia Pavilion will exhibit products ranging from F&B, healthcare products and household items. MATRADE is also arranging one-on-one business meetings between Malaysian exhibitors and buyers at the Malaysia Pavilion. In addition, Malaysia’s participation in the previous 121st Canton Fair had managed to record total sales of RM111.14 million and received more than 3,000 enquiries.

China remained as Malaysia’s largest trading partner for 9 consecutive years since 2009. In 2017, the trade between both countries performed beyond expectation with total trade recording 20.6% of growth to RM 290.70 billion compared to 2016. Malaysia’s exports to China in 2017 rose by 28.0% to RM126.2 billion while imports rose 15.5% to RM164.5 billion. Malaysia’s trade with China in January - February 2018 expanded by 7.9% to RM46.54 billion compared with the same period in 2017. Exports to China surged by 3.3% to RM18.74 billion, due to higher exports of Electrical & Electronics products, petroleum products, Optical & Scientific Equipment, chemicals and chemical products as well as Machinery, Equipment & Parts. Imports from China also increased by 11.2% to RM27.79 billion.

MATRADE as Malaysia’s export promotion agency offers various facilitation for Malaysian companies in areas such as market intelligence and trade advisory as well as export promotion and capacity building programmes. Beside CANTON Fair, MATRADE will also organise the participation of Malaysian companies in several trade promotion programmes such as the 2018 Silk Road International Expo (SRIE) in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province (11-15 May 2018), Export Acceleration Mission (EAM) in conjunction with Transport Logistic in Shanghai (16 – 18 May 2018), the 15th China ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) in Nanning, Guangxi Province (12 – 15 September 2018), China International Import Expo 2018 in Shanghai (5 – 10 November 2018) and Automechanika Shanghai 2018 (28 November – 1 December 2018).