July-August . 2021 | @ Halal
Cover Story
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Exceeding export expectations
MyAPEC2020 session .
Digitalisation the in-thing
One of the significant events MATRADE organised last year on a virtual mode was the National Export Day . It took place on Sept 8-10 , 2020 . In 2021 , the virtual gathering was held on Jul 13-15 .
“ So , this year , we will not look back . We are going aggressive in pushing our digitalisation agenda to ensure that all the SMEs , as well as other Malaysian export communities , benefit from this initiative .”
Mohd Mustafa also provided updates for the International Sourcing Programme ( INSP ) for MIHAS 2021 on Apr 1-Sept 1 . As of 3rd August 2021 , there were 478 meetings with potential sales of RM329 million .
“ The number of buyers we connected with Malaysian exporters were 256 foreign buyers
Rain or shine , the show must go on . MIHAS cannot afford to be absent too long .” — Mohd Mustafa to 339 Malaysian exporters .
“ The point I want to make here is that while we acknowledge the difficulties and challenges , we will never give up . We need to really look at the digital aspect of it .
“ Digitalisation is the in-thing now . MATRADE recently embarked on its digitalisation agenda . We will digitalise many of our processes and operations in anticipation of difficulties we ’ re going to face in the coming years .
“ There is a project called Digital MATRADE where we have five big projects we are going to digitalise . One of them is basically connecting buyers to our digital platform .
“ We will do it in a different mode in coming years where we have more stable platforms and we can place all the buyers in one particular workplace .”
THE TRADE promotion initiatives undertaken by MATRADE are paying off . In March this year , Malaysia ’ s exports exceeded 100 billion .
MATRADE CEO Mohd Mustafa Abdul Aziz said : “ We thought this was awesome and unbelievable . And I said that in the coming months , we would not be able to surpass that number .
“ We were shocked . Exports in April and June again breached the RM100 billion mark and we are talking about being amid a pandemic . This is the 10th consecutive month of year-to-year expansion since September 2020 .”
Mohd Mustafa said that millions of people around the globe still believe Malaysia is one of the best suppliers of goods . “ You ’ ll be surprised that the trade tension between China and the US has resulted in an increase in furniture being imported by US importers worth tens of millions . It ’ s the diversion of imports from China by the US .”
Maintaining the high base
As for crude palm oil , when prices dropped , planters were worried about what to do , but now they are the biggest beneficiaries due to strong demand .
As for electrical & electronics ( E & E ), which is one of the most significant contributors to exports , he said it comprised almost 40 per cent of total exports . This sector had recorded double-digit growth since November last year .
“ And on top of that , of course , we have rubber gloves . I tell you , it is unbelievable . They are making billions . Everyone is jumping onto the bandwagon . Then , exports were also support by the petroleum and semiconductor sectors .
“ We ’ re enjoying good growth in the EU , US , China , Japan , ASEAN and all our major trading partners . It ’ s unbelievable . We are also talking about rubber and chemical products .
“ My concern is how to maintain this very high base . In 2018 , our exports reached more than RM1 trillion . Then in 2019 , it dropped to RM985 billion and in 2020 was RM984 billion .
“ But now , if you ask me about the trend , I hope we will be able to hit that RM1 trillion mark again if we maintain these monthly figures .”
Mohd Mustafa was also pleased that the business meetings MATRADE had organised had met with a good response . He was pleasantly surprised when a company in Mexico was willing to take up a booth in MIHAS 2021 .
“ We can have halal tortillas after this ,” he quipped .
Touching on Japan , he said that when he was first posted there in 2004 , they had some halal shops . “ Two years ago , when I went there , halal restaurants had mushroomed .
“ Japan was supposed to collaborate with us last year for the 2020 Olympics . They ’ re looking at halal as a niche market now . Halal is considered premium because we ’ re talking about cleanliness , quality , safety , modesty , ethical consideration and the environment .
“ The halal concept has not just food & beverage ( F & B ) but also other segments like cosmetics , pharmaceuticals and financial services .”
Thus , he said , it was important for MATRADE to promote and develop digital platforms for local companies to have business meetings connecting buyers and sellers .
“ Companies will become irrelevant if we don ’ t facilitate and assist them in whatever way we can . We need to educate them on the need to digitalise and change their business model .
“ We need to shout louder . SMEs still depend heavily on the domestic market , and we want them to look abroad .”