National Trade Blueprint

17 National Trade Blueprint The Need for a National Trade Blueprint The Qualitative Perspective A number of issues were identified both from the supply and demand side. To leverage the full potential of Malaysia’s exports, challenges related to marketing, investments, productivity, logistics across the export value chain must be addressed. Areas Key constraints Utilisation of support initiatives Exporters generally welcome any government export support and incentives. However, it is viewed that the delivery of relevant programmes need to be enhanced to maximise effectiveness. Finance • Businesses continue to struggle to secure inexpensive financing to support export expansion • Lack of awareness among exporters on alternative financing possibilities • There are many barriers during the application for financing which leads to many applicants dropping off Logistics & Ports Lack of a single digital trade window system, which increases the clearance time as current processes routed through an online-offline- online process Market Access • Lack of market intelligence in identifying potential markets and buyers • Lack of a single registry for exporters in Malaysia • Limited foreign market access for Malaysian exporters • Certified goods being rejected at import destination • Use of Non-Tariff Barriers (NTB) despite having FTA and regional bilateral trade agreements Branding • Malaysian products lack adequate branding and story line • Exporters, especially SMEs are not adequately knowledgeable on how to market and package their export ready products • Inconsistent branding messages on trade across government agencies Regulations & certification • Exporters find the regulatory process for exports complicated and unsystematic • High cost of certification • Limited testing facilities which hinder access to and drives up the cost of complying standards and certification Technology, R&D and innovation • Low adoption of technology among SMEs • Many assume technology adoption is all about Industry 4.0, and not aware on the smaller solutions that can be adopted within their manufacturing line • R&D and Innovation are considered as very expensive investments, therefore not looked into Others • Limited participation of SMEs within the exports value chain • Increasing demand for products which are manufactured through sustainable means • Increasing buy-local campaigns in many importing countries Exporter’s constraints within the ecosystem