Perbadanan Pembangunan Perdagangan Luar Malaysia

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2014, KUALA LUMPUR : A total of 34 Malaysian companies which participated in The Salon International de l’Alimentation (SIAL Paris) 2014 had secured RM123.19 million of sales, an increase of 58 % as compared to last year’s participation. Among products that generated interests were palm oil, prepared food and confectionery products.

According to Trade Commissioner of Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) in Frankfurt, Mr. S.Jai Shankar, MATRADE’s efforts in projecting the strength of Malaysian food & beverages (F&B) sector paid off when 3 Malaysian companies, Ace Canning Corp Sdn Bhd, Mafipro Sdn Bhd and Happy Alliance (M) Sdn Bhd were selected and featured in the SIAL Innovation, a testimony of Malaysian brands capabilities in the food trends and innovations spanning the world.

Overseas buyers during the event were impressed with Malaysian suppliers’ capabilities, particularly in their wide offerings ranging from biscuits, snacks, chips, chocolates, candies, premium nuts, exotic and generic sauces, noodles, palm oil, corn products, frozen food, cereals and seafood. Numerous enquiries were received from buyers covering various regions including Africa, Middle East, South America, North America, Europe and Asia seeking products for commercial purposes including supplying to restaurants, hypermarkets and gourmet chains, both ethnic as well as to mainstream outlets and also to individual retail shops.

This year marked MATRADE’s 11th participation in the event.The Malaysian pavilion strategically located at the main entrance of Hall 4 together with the cooking demonstration by a Malaysian well known MasterChef, Chef Adu Amran attracted visitors to the Malaysian Pavilion.

SIAL Paris is a biennial event and one of the world’s largest food and beverage exhibition, took place in Paris from 19 to 23rd October 2014. The fair is one of the world’s biggest gatherings of food industry professionals. More than 6,300 exhibitors from over 105 countries covering 19 exhibition sectors including Malaysia participated in the five-day fair. Attendance exceeded the 150,000 visitors mark set by the organiser for SIAL Paris 2014.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2014, KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) will be leading a specialised marketing mission on Creative Multimedia and Content (CMC) to Los Angeles, California from 30th October to 5th November 2014. MATRADE will focus on promoting local made animation, films, TV and post-production content and services to global market. This marketing mission will include series of exclusive sessions for Malaysian companies to make their sales pitch to promote their content and services, have individual business meetings, networking session and visit their North American counterparts.

As part of its effort to promote Malaysian creative and multimedia industry, the delegation will also take part in the World Animation and VFX Summit (WAVS) which will be held in Marina Del Ray, Los Angeles from 2nd - 5th November 2014.

The Malaysian delegation will be represented by 10 creative and multimedia content companies, offering animation and post-production content and related services. The Malaysian companies participating in this marketing mission are Animasia Productions, Azimation Werks, Big Fish Media, Creative Point Media, Giggle Garage, Ideate Media, Inspidea, Lemon Sky Animation, rGBa Studio and Silver Ant.

According to Madam Sharimahton Mat Saleh, MATRADE’s Director of Electrical & Electronic and ICT, “While animation is the main focus of this marketing mission, another sector that we want to market is our TV and film post-production works. As we know quite numbers of visual-effect works in Hollywood such as Life of Pi and X-Men: First Class were made in Malaysia and done by Malaysians. Apart from that we are also looking into the possibilities for outsourcing jobs by American production studios to outsource their projects to Malaysian creative content companies. We also want to promote Malaysia as the main destination for creative content in ASEAN region”

“MATRADE will collaborate with Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) in this SMM and both parties are arranging business meetings for Malaysian companies with American production companies during this specialised marketing mission,” she added.

In 2012, creative and multimedia content in Malaysia have displayed a significance growth with 32% growth and local creative content have contributed almost RM500 million in exports to Malaysia’s GDP.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2014, KUALA LUMPUR : Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) will be coordinating the participation of 35 Malaysian companies under the Malaysia Pavilion at 116th China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair), Phase 3 (Autumn Session) 2014 from October 31 – November 4, 2014 in Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.

According to Mr. Ong Yew Chee, Director of Business Services and Building Materials Section, MATRADE’s participation in Canton Fair will further promote Malaysia’s exports to China market and the world, taking advantage of the strong presence of foreign buyers in Canton Fair and leveraging on this strategic platform to promote the image of Malaysia as a reliable source of imports for high quality products and services.

Products that will be showcased by Malaysian companies include healthcare products, household items and processed food products. MATRADE is also arranging more than 200 individual business meetings between Malaysian exhibitors and potential Chinese importers during the event.

Guangdong is an important Province in Malaysia-China bilateral trade and it accounts for about 25% of Malaysia’s trade with China. In 2013, Malaysia was Guangdong’s 6th largest trading partner, 5th largest export destination and 5th largest source of imports. Thus, participation in the Canton Fair will further strengthen the trade and investment cooperation between the two nations. It is also one of the efforts taken by MATRADE to strive towards achieving the Malaysia-China USD160 billion trade target by 2017.” He added.

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, the Canton Fair is the biggest exhibition in China offering a wide range of products. It is held biannually in Guangzhou, P.R. China for every spring (April-May) and autumn (October-November), with a long history of 57 years since 1957. Over the years, 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.

In 2013, Malaysia’s trade with Guangdong Province was valued at USD39.34 billion, an increase of 33.05% as compared to 2012. Malaysia’s exports to Guangdong Province recorded a growth of 25.86% to USD18.61 billion in 2013 while import from Guangdong was valued at USD20.73 billion. For the first eight months of 2014, Malaysia’s trade with Guangdong Province was valued at USD23.21 billion with Malaysia’s exports valued at USD10.96 billion, while imports valued at USD12.25 billion.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2014, KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) organised the participation of 70 Malaysian companies in a solo country exhibition, the Malaysia Services Exhibition (MSE) and Showcase Malaysia 2014, Yangon, Myanmar from 1 – 4 October 2014. A total of 35 companies promoting Malaysian services and another 35 companies showcasing products participated in the exhibition.

Total sales of RM991 million were reported by Malaysian exhibitors during the 4-day event. Amongst the services that generated interests were consultancy and support services for oil and gas industry, corporate training and education programmes, franchising as well as machinery and formwork systems. Products sourced include health and wellness, generators, lightings, heat exchanger, steam boiler, timber flooring, industrial waste bin, paint materials, water fittings, spa, food and beverages as well as household wares. A total of 1,000 business meetings were pre-arranged for the Malaysian participants with Myanmar companies over the 4 days while workshops for the Malaysian delegation were arranged to network and explore more strategic partnership among women entrepreneurs, in professional engineering services as well as education.

In addition, a cross-border programme that encompassed meetings with local government officials and relevant private sectors was held concurrently to explore investment opportunities for market access in this fast emerging market. The programme succeeded in identifying investment opportunities for joint-ventures in designing and construction of an exhibition and convention centre in Yangon city, a shopping complex in Yangon, hotels and resorts in various parts of Myanmar, tourism related projects, as well as construction and interior design works. Investment opportunities were also available for private hospital, project for housing, integrated public transportation hub and projects related to tourism.

Over the last five years, trade between Malaysia and Myanmar has increased from RM1.22 billion in 2009 to RM2.89 billion in 2013. For the first eight months of 2014, Malaysia’s trade with Myanmar was valued at RM2.18 billion, while exports recorded RM1.8 billion an increase of 48.3 per cent compared to the previous year.