Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation

International Biomass Conference Malaysia 2015

Building sustainable future industries

KUALA LUMPUR, 8 December 2015 – The International Biomass Conference Malaysia (IBCM) 2015 today witnessed the launch of Sabah Biomass Industry Development Plan (SBIDP) and the establishment of a Federal-State government driven Sabah Biomass Delivery Unit that will serve to execute the plan, serving as a major milestone for Malaysia’s stride towards a regional Premier Biomass Hub.

The signing of the Key Term Sheet between Brooke Renewables, a local Sarawak based consortium and Beta Renewables from Italy is to state the intentions of both parties to enter into a proposed Licensing Agreement for the utilisation of PROESA technology to convert biomass into ethanol for the Sarawak 2G Bioethanol and Biochemical Project. This signifies the certainty that Malaysia is on its way of owning the region’s first of such facility. These two significant developments for Sabah and Sarawak are major leaps for accelerating the nation’s progress towards achieving the goals set up in Malaysia’s National Biomass Strategy (NBS) 2020.

The International Biomass Conference Malaysia 2015 (IBCM 2015) was officially opened at the MATRADE Exhibition & Convention Centre today marking yet another initiative by the Government to drive the growth of Malaysia’s biomass industry.

Launched by the Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI) YB Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed, IBCM 2015 is a joint collaboration between Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) and Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM).  Aimed at accelerating the integration of Malaysian biomass industry players into the global supply chain, ICBM 2015 congregates key industry players, technology & solution providers, scientists and leading biomass stakeholders to share insights, explore business opportunities and partnership models to move the agenda of the biomass industry forward.

Mustapa described the SBIDP and the Federal-State Delivery Unit as a joint development effort between Sabah State Government and Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM) as part of the National Biomass Strategy (NBS) 2020, setting another great example on the importance of Federal-State collaboration to help accelerate the realisation of a common biomass agenda.

He added that the Sabah plan identified critical state level enablers that would optimise the potential of the state and things that need to be in place to build an ecosystem that would accelerate the development of these biomass industries locally.

A biomass industry study is being conducted by Sarawak State Government and AIM to define its biomass development plan and it is currently in its final stages with the plan scheduled for launch in the first quarter of 2016. With both the State Governments of Sabah and Sarawak taking progressive vision and concrete measures to maximise their biomass potential, as they account for more than 50% of the available biomass in the country, both local and international stakeholders shall be able to progress projects and help build the country’s biomass value chain.

Similarly, such initiatives spearheaded under NBS 2020 will be covering other high potential States in Malaysia, as each location has its own suitability of downstream activities based on biomass availability, infrastructure and needs of local industry and community.

Mustapa congratulated MATRADE and AIM for organising the IBCM 2015 as it demonstrated the Government’s commitment to develop the biomass industry that has great potential which can be tapped for the future.

“We have acknowledged the Biomass Industry as one of the key economic area for new wealth creation for the country beyond 2020, as such we are not just promoting investment into the area through MIDA but developing the entire value chain which includes export markets and end uses with MATRADE,” he said.

The SIBDP and Federal-State Sabah Biomass Delivery Unit was launched and announced by Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Industrial Development for Sabah, Dato’ Raymond Tan. The Board of the Federal-State Sabah Biomass Delivery Unit will be chaired by the Deputy Chief Minister himself, with members from key Sabah State Government representatives and AIM as part of driving the biomass agenda.

The National Biomass Strategy Delivery Unit (1MBAS) under AIM will be part of the working team under the Federal-State Sabah Biomass Delivery Unit as the State develop its capabilities internally. Both Datuk Hj. Hashim, Permanent Secretary of MID Sabah and Mark Rozario, CEO of AIM were on stage to symbolise the close partnership and collaboration.

Also present at the launch was Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Dato’ Mah Siew Keong. In his special address Mah said the launch of the SBIDP and the Federal-State Sabah Biomass Delivery Unit, a localised execution authority to drive the plan showed how important the Sabah State Government views biomass as a future economic driver, one that is sustainable and would help create new job opportunities.

“The signing of the Licensing Agreement for the 2G Bioethanol Plant in Sarawak by Brooke Renewables and Beta Renewables signifies that Malaysia will have the region’s first 2G Bioethanol Plant despite the challenging economic situation globally. I applaud all the biomass project owners for taking a long term view for aligning themselves to the aspirations laid out in the National Biomass Strategy developed and led by AIM,” he added.

He noted that NBS2020 and 1MBAS led by AIM have played an active and prominent role in the biomass sector. “Forging new forms of industry collaboration, innovative feedstock mobilisation and business models backed with realistic on-ground information add tremendous value in engagements with companies both local and abroad to communicate, progress and accelerate Malaysia’s aspiration towards becoming the regional premier biomass downstream processing hub,” he said.

In the area of development of Municipal Waste opportunity in Malaysia, he said AIM is proud to announce that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Scania in November 2015 to develop a project for turning municipal waste into 2G biofuels, and eventually move towards other downstream products such as biochemical and etc. AIM is in the midst of engaging key stakeholders in this industry to detail out the development plan for 2016 and beyond.

“Another significant development to note in the Municipal waste area is a Joint Development Agreement signed between Renescience (part of Dong Energy) and Kualiti Alam (a wholly owned company of Khazanah Malaysia). This commitment is to secure a successful project that covers both commercial and technical feasibilities that will lead to investment decisions to be made for the project in Malaysia. This shows that we are expanding the biomass utilisation in this country as laid out in NBS 2020,” he said.

The two-day conference featured 27 speakers both international and regional experts in six panel discussions featuring topics such as; Is Biomass Industry a Threat to Environmental Sustainability, Can Malaysia be the Regional Biomass-Based Processing Hub, Gearing Towards an Advanced Bioeconomy, Is it Worth the Risk Accelerating Commercialisation of Biomass Research, and Incentives and Funding – Ways in Achieving Bankable Biomass Projects.

Ends