In spite of the pandemic and global challenges, the first Trade and Investment Mission led by Senior Minister, Minister of International Trade & Industry (MITI), YB Dato’ Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, which kickstarted on 1st April and ended on 6th April 2021, was successful in intensifying effort to grow international business is concerned. A total of RM986.15 million of deals related to export was reported during the mission.
Economic recovery is an important agenda for Malaysia. The recent Trade and Investment Mission to ROK and Japan, which connects with major buyers and investors is an effective high-level bilateral engagement where Senior officials can help push for international business deals, delivering more exports for Malaysian companies and promoting Malaysia’s brand name. During the recent mission, business discussions on sourcing of products and services were organised with premium buyers and leading companies in both ROK and Japan.
About RM70 million of exports in products and services to ROK were reported as a result of meetings with buyers from ROK. Some of the highlights of meetings included one with a major retailer of ROK, GS Retail, which operates more than 15,000 convenience stores and 289 supermarkets with products made available online and offline. In the meeting led by the Senior Minister and Minister of International Trade and Industry, commitment to triple up sourcing of food products and FMCG by GS Retail was discussed and agreed. Follow-up meetings between MATRADE and GS Retail have been organized to determine specific Malaysian suppliers that can meet the sourcing requirements of GS Retail.
In line with the development of creative industry, an insightful meeting was held with Moggozi Co. Ltd. This Korean company has co-produced with Malaysian partners and distributed some of Malaysia’s animation production. Moggozi believes in Asian contents and creativity as a collaboration model, which is in sync with Malaysia’s interest. The Vice President of Moggozi enthusiastically communicated interest to collaborate with Malaysian companies to produce animation films and other related projects.
As for Japan, meetings were held with major “Sogo Sosha”, general trading companies in Japan, such as Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsui & Co. Commitments were made to increase sourcing from Malaysia for FMCG, palm oil, halal products and services as well as chemicals and chemical products. In addition to the meetings with Japan’s major trading companies, business exchanges was also held with Daiso, a popular operator of 100-Yen shop, which carries a wide range of household items. Internationally in 26 countries, Daiso operates 5741 stores, of which more than half are in Japan. Followed up with Daiso has been arranged by MATRADE to connect Malaysian exporters to an opportunity of supplying more Malaysian products. Currently, about 160 SKUs of Malaysia products are available in Daiso outlets in Japan. The Japanese buyers were very encouraging with commitment to purchase from Malaysia over the next 24 months, amounting to RM916.15 million of export value.
During the mission, MATRADE also signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) to strategically strengthen Malaysia’s trade promotion cooperation with Japan in areas such as Halal, ICT, e-commerce and digital transformation. The MoC signing was witnessed by Senior Minister, MITI and Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), which signified MATRADE’s and JETRO’s dedication to build and strengthen the bilateral and trade relations between Malaysia and Japan.
Mr Mohd Mustafa Abdul Aziz, CEO of MATRADE said: “ROK & Japan are two major markets in Asia for Malaysian companies. The trade and investment mission was very fruitful as it adds on to the interest to cultivate bilateral relations between Malaysia with ROK and Japan. MATRADE is focused on collaborating with Malaysian exporters to help drive their export sales – as part of our effort in economic recovery.
Apart from the export value reported during the mission, I am also glad to receive positive responses about ROK’s and Japan’s interest and participation at the upcoming Malaysia International Halal Showcase (MIHAS), to be held from 9th – 12th September 2021.”