Page 146-147 - MATRADE Annual Report 2013

The year 2013 was a significant milestone for
MATRADE as it celebrated its 20th anniversary.
When MATRADE was established back in 1993, its
mission was to generate growth in Malaysian exports
of value-added products. The organisation was then
staffed by less than 100 people of whom 35 per cent
were seconded from other ministries and agencies.
Few people knew what MATRADE was about. Total
exports in 1993 were valued at RM121.24 billion.
Two decades later, total exports have expanded
six folds. MATRADE has a workforce of 619 people
and overseas network of 43 offices. It is today a well
recognised international trade promotion organisation.
Its mission now extends almost across all sectors of
exports be it manufacturing or services.
Expanding Malaysia’s global footprints in exports
comes with intense challenges and for us 2013 was
indeed a challenging year. As an open economy,
Malaysia is vulnerable to constant changes in the
economic world. The prolonged weakness in external
environment brought by the euro zone crises, sluggish
economic recovery of the United States and the
slowing down of the Chinese economy have affected
many economies, including Malaysia. This was
reflected in the world’s export growth, which declined
to 2.3% in 2013 from 3.1% in 2012.
During the first half of 2013, Malaysia’s exports were
subdued. Robust growth in second half of the year by
8.9% pushed exports up to register a 2.4% growth for
the whole year. ASEAN led the growth in 2013, with
Singapore as the largest single export destination,
followed by Thailand and Indonesia. The economic
recovery in the Euro zone saw all major markets in
the European Union recording increases in exports. In
addition, encouraging demand for Malaysia’s products
and services in new and emerging markets in Africa,
as well as West and South Asia further supported the
overall export performance.
Chairman’s Statement
ANNUAL REPORT 2013 Chairman’s Statement STRENGTHENING GLOBAL FOOTPRINTS 145 144
2013 also marked the 16th consecutive year of
trade surplus since 1998 with trade balance totaling
RM70.63 billion. China remained as Malaysia’s biggest
trading partner with 14.8% share of Malaysia’s total
trade, followed by Singapore at 13.2%, Japan 9.9%,
USA 8% and Thailand 5.7%.
The dynamism of today’s business environment
requires entrepreneurs to stay competitive by
anticipating and adapting to changes in the
international trading environment. In efforts to inculcate
these attributes, MATRADE had organised a total
of 98 exporter development programmes targeted
at reaching out to current and would be exporters.
The programmes benefited 5,057 representatives
from 3,634 companies. In addition, MATRADE was a
constant partner for MITI and its agencies in providing
awareness on the benefits of utilising FTAs.
In 2013, a total of 107 promotion programmes were
organised by MATRADE. I am pleased to highlight that
these programmes which included international trade
fairs, specialised marketing missions and incoming
buying missions had successfully generated total sales
of RM18.46 billion. I feel that two iconic international
events held domestically deserve a special mention.
They are MIHAS and INTRADE 2013 that drew
thousands of visitors and buyers from many countries.
These two events serve as a platform to brand
Malaysia’s products and services to the world. For the
10th MIHAS, total sales of nearly RM800 million were
generated while for the 7th INTRADE RM235.8 million
worth of sales were secured.
Indeed, MATRADE’s promotion programmes are not
confined to only products but also include services
sector. The services sector has been growing rapidly in
Malaysia and to further establish Malaysia’s presence
in the global market, MATRADE had organised a total
of 11 Malaysia Services Exhibitions (MSE) in 2013.
MSEs were organised in Qatar, Algeria, Kazakhstan,
Cambodia, Myanmar, Tatarstan, China, Iraq, Chile &
Brazil, Indonesia and New Zealand. It is heartening to
see that participation by Malaysian companies in these
MSEs had successfully generated RM1.68 billion in
sales and business opportunities.
Another initiative to promote Malaysian brands
abroad is through the Malaysia Kitchen Programme
(MKP). Among the highlights of MKP programme in
2013 were the Malaysia Night at Trafalgar Square,
Malaysia Week Joint Promotion with 200 7-Eleven
stores in Beijing and Tianjin as well as joint promotion
programme with Parkson outlets in Shanghai, Beijing,
Dalian and Heilongjiang, all in China.
Online and internet marketing has proven to be an
effective vehicle for promoting Malaysian products
and services. To capitalise on this, MATRADE had
introduced e-directory in its portal with a view of
encouraging Malaysian exporters to promote their
products and services online.
The successful outcomes of MATRADE’s promotion
activities in 2013 can be seen in the export
performance for the first quarter of 2014. Exports grew
by 10.9% year on year to register a value of RM187.91
billion.
Outlook for 2014
The Global Economic Prospects report by the World
Bank predicts the world economy to strengthen in
2014. Five years after the global financial crisis, the
world economy is showing signs of bouncing back in
2014. Although we can expect improvements in Euro
zone and the US, the speed of economic recovery in
these two major economies is not expected to be fast
enough. Thus, MATRADE will continue to aggressively
implement export promotion programmes to sustain
the country’s exports growth.
I would like to record my appreciation to MATRADE’s
Board for their invaluable contributions. I would also
like to acknowledge the MATRADE management and
staff for their strong commitment and contributions to
enhancing the nation’s exports growth.
Dato’ Mah Siew Keong
Chairman