Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation

TUESDAY, 26 NOVEMBER 2019, KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Trade Promotion Organisation, Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), is intensifying efforts to push the exports of Malaysian Medical Devices by promoting local companies’ capabilities at the world’s largest event for Healthcare and Medical Devices, MEDICA, in Dusseldorf, Germany from 18 to 21 November 2019.

This year, a total of 49 Malaysian companies took part in the event. Among the medical devices and products promoted to the 120,000 global visitors at MEDICA included diagnostic and test kits, blood collection tubes, sanitizers and disinfectants, prefilled humidifier and hospital furniture. The participation of Malaysian companies in the exhibition resulted in more than RM 250 million worth of export value generated.

“Europe is known as the hub of Medical Devices and Germany is home for many of the world-renowned medical devices corporations. This effort was in line with our strategy to accelerate Malaysia’s exports of Medical Devices to the European markets. In terms of statistics, in 2018, the largest share of our Medical Devices exports went to Western Europe and was valued at RM6.8 billion,” said Naim Abdul Rahman, Director of Lifestyle and Life Sciences Section at MATRADE.

Malaysia’s exports of Medical Devices to Europe showed steady growth for the past five years - from RM 4.2 billion in 2013 to RM 7.4 billion in 2018, with a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.7 per cent. “Over the years, the demand of Medical Devices products was centred around medical gloves. Now, we are seeing a shift in demand towards medical consumables. This indicates a growing acceptance for Malaysian Medical Devices among the European buyers and we have to continue engaging with them and at the same time providing market intelligence to Malaysian exporters to be competitive and able to penetrate the European markets.” Naim shared.

The top-five export destinations for Malaysian Medical Devices in Europe last year were Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Italy. Collectively, these markets contributed 82.7 per cent of Malaysia’s exports of Medical Device to Europe in 2018.