MPMA members begin promoting plastic products to new CPTPP market

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 (Bernama) -- Members of the Malaysian Plastics Manufacturers Association  (MPMA) have begun promoting the sales of their plastics products to new markets through the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

President Datuk Lim Kok Boon said there are three new markets for the plastics sector, namely Canada, Mexico and Peru, which have been shown by the Cost and Benefit Analysis studies released by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) as net importers of plastics products.

“These countries did not have any free trade agreement with Malaysia previously. Canada is the first export destination that our members are looking at as the import duties for plastics products have been eliminated since Jan 1, 2023 from a maximum of 6.5 per cent.

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“Currently, the major export markets for Malaysian-made plastics products are the European Union, Asean and Japan. The implementation of the CPTPP will widen the export market opportunities for the plastics manufacturing industry in Malaysia,” he said in a statement today.

Lim shared that the Malaysian plastics manufacturers have established firm footing in the export market with their superior product quality and supply reliability, and due to this, Malaysia has maintained its position as the largest producers of plastics stretch film in Asia for years.

“Stretch film is a packaging material that is widely used worldwide. With this background, we believe that our products will gain popularity in the CPTPP market,” he explained.

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He also noted that with the general anticipation of further slowdown in most of the developed economies next year, the opening up of the new markets would widen market opportunities to partly cushion the impact of weakening demand from the traditional export countries.

The implementation of the CPTPP, he said, will also attract foreign direct investments for investors to set up their manufacturing base in the country given the wider market opportunities for their products, which will augur well for the manufacturing sector and in turn will benefit the country.

Lim noted that there are currently about 1,200 plastics manufacturing companies in Malaysia, employing some 150,000 workers. About 90 per cent of the companies are small and medium enterprises.

The plastics industry registered total sales turnover of RM58.6 billion in 2021, out of which 27 per cent or RM16 billion worth of production was exported.

MPMA currently has about 800 members, which represent about 60 per cent of plastics manufacturers in the country, and account for 80 per cent of the country’s total production of plastics products.

-- BERNAMA