Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation

TUESDAY, 29 JANUARY 2019, KUALA LUMPUR: Under the 11th Malaysia Plan, the Government identified the medical devices industry as one of the high growth sectors. Indeed this projection has proven to be highly accurate as the industry has managed to set new standards in the global market by achieving export sales exceeding RM 20 billion as at November 2018. According to Mr Abu Bakar Yusof, Director of Lifestyle & Life Sciences, for the Malaysia External Trade Corporation (MATRADE), “Malaysia’s exports of Medical Devices for eleven months 2018 broke the RM 20 billion mark to reach RM 21 billion, and we are expecting to breach this further by achieving between RM 22 to 23 billion export sales for the whole year of 2018. Such an increase can be partly attributed to our participation in large-scale trade events such as Arab Health”.

A delegation of 19 Malaysian companies will be participating in Arab Health 2019 in Dubai, UAE from 28th to 31st January 2019. This event is deemed to be the largest healthcare trade event in the Middle East & North African (MENA) region. MATRADE has been a regular participant at this flagship event, participating for the 15th year on this occasion.

This year’s delegation has also been a record representation from MATRADE at the Arab Health trade event. These companies are mainly in the medical devices sector covering medical furniture, infusion and transfusion sets, medical gloves, test kits, medical and healthcare furnishings, disinfectants and airway tunings.

Mr Abu Bakar further adds, “The event itself has more than 4,200 exhibitors from over 150 countries. Furthermore, the MENA region is a strategically important market as healthcare spending in this region is expected to reach RM 780 billion by 2020. MATRADE is convinced that our presence in trade events such as this will elevate Malaysia’s Medical Device sector and enable our companies to grow further in years to come.”

In 2018, MATRADE’s participation in Arab Health successfully generated RM 367.1 million in export potentials. This came from strong interest from a broad range of markets, including UAE, Egypt, Germany, Sweden, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Rwanda, Iraq, Italy, and Saudi Arabia, for Malaysian-made medical devices. The Malaysian companies participating at last year’s Arab Health also successfully realized 410 business meetings for Malaysian
participants, which generated 1,029 enquiries and 1,346 business contacts.

Moving on towards 2019, with the increased number of participants, MATRADE is expecting to multiplied increase in responses and interest towards products offered by Malaysian companies, taking account the 17.9% increase in exports of Medical Device seen for the MENA region.

One of the Malaysian delegation members, Mr. Lim Pak Hong, Group General Manager for LKL Advance Metaltech Sdn Bhd, mentioned, “This year marks our 13th year participating in Arab Health under MATRADE. It has been a rewarding experience for us as every year, the quality of the show is second to none. The opportunity to exhibit alongside other Malaysian counterparts further solidifies our brand positioning. We are expecting some positive outcomes this time around as we received a number of serious enquiries from the Gulf region as well prospects from the growing Africa continent for our medical beds and specialized ward furniture during Arab Health 2018 last year”.

MATRADE continuously implements relevant trade promotional programs for the Medical Devices and Healthcare industry as part of its International Sourcing Programs, or INSP. One of these major initiatives is the annual Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia Conference (APHM). This year, the APHM will be in August 2019. MATRADE is also planning to participate in MEDICA Dusseldorf (November 2019), one of the world’s leading events for Medical Device.