Give us bigger share under 12MP, urges primary industries ministry

(Bernama pic)

SHAH ALAM: The primary industries ministry is seeking a bigger allocation under the 12th Malaysia Plan (2021-2025) to further drive the nation’s commodities industry.

Calling for industry players to come forward with their views, its minister Teresa Kok said a bigger allocation was needed as the industry had been contributing the bulk of the country’s revenue.

“We are the one that pushes local commodities to be exported to gain more export revenue.

“But, more often than not, the allocation given to us is not enough and not enough attention is being paid to the ministry,” she said at the Malaysian Rubber Products Manufacturers’ Association (MRPMA) Rubber Industry Conference 2019 here today.

She added that currently, the ministry was looking at different industries to identify their needs and would welcome inputs from industry players to help the ministry in preparing proposals for the 12MP.

Elaborating on the industry’s contributions to the country’s coffers, Kok said manufactured rubber products recorded a growth of 9.6% to RM23.71 billion in export earnings in 2018 from a year before.

The export revenue for tyres stood at RM1.32 million last year, while revenue from industrial rubber goods (IRG) was RM1.37 billion and from general rubber goods (GRG) RM1.32 billion.

Meanwhile, total revenue for non-latex-based rubber products was RM4.4 billion.

She said the industry had done remarkably well in 2018 despite challenges like the withdrawal of natural gas subsidies, rising cost of natural gas and utilities, labour problems and the US-China trade war.

“The domestic market has also been eroded with the influx of rubber products from overseas,” she said, adding that rubber imports amounted to RM8.35 billion in 2018.

Kok said tyre imports alone were worth RM2.7 billion, mainly from markets like China, Thailand and Indonesia.

Meanwhile, IRG and GRG’s imports stood at RM1.21 billion and RM1.26 billion respectively.

All these segments made up 62% of rubber imports, said Kok.

Demand for medical gloves

Meanwhile, MRPMA president Oon Eng Long said the Malaysian rubber industry was mostly driven by the medical glove segment.

“We are always being treated as ‘taiko’ (big brother) in rubber product manufacturing among our peers in Asian but are we really doing well in this area?” he asked, adding that currently, Malaysia had captured 57% of the disposable glove market share or US$4.05 billion from the total market value at US$7.1 billion.

On the surgical glove market, he said Malaysia held 34.5%, or US$360 million, of the total market share valued at US$1.1 billion and 1.4% of the condom market, worth US$6.5 billion.

“Meanwhile, the global market for dry rubber products is worth US$360 billion.

“If we can capture 2% of the market, then we already have US$7.2 billion in our pocket. So we must set a target to capture 1-2% of the dry rubber market,” he said.

In another development, he said MRPMA was planning to set up a skill development centre to provide IR4.0 vocational training to existing and new workers in the rubber industry.

“We have approached the Human Resource Development Fund to assist us in establishing a rubber products industrial framework to study the industry’s outlook and manpower projection,” he added.

Ong said in 2018, the authorities had approved a total of RM201.7 billion in investments by rubber industry players.

Of the total, RM80.5 billion was foreign direct investments while the rest were domestic direct investments. - FMT