Exports of Malaysia’s plastic industry up 8.5% in 2015
30 May 2016
Exports of Malaysia’s plastics industry registered a 8.5% growth from RM11.94bil in 2014 to RM12.96bil in 2015.
The sector is a good indicator of the industry’s performance.
Malaysian Plastics Manufacturers Association (MPMA) president Datuk Lim Kok Boon said in a statement that moving forward, the industry would face challenges such as managing rising costs.
This is particularly, with the impending increase in minimum wage, effective July 2016.
Lim’s remarks came at the MPMA’s recent 49th anniversary dinner.
Other challenges, he added, include the more stringent criteria and increased processing fees of employing foreign labour, the goods and services tax (GST) issue, sustainability issues, competition with emerging economies and a mild recovery in the economies of the European Union and Japan.
“The Malaysian plastics industry registered a total sales turnover of RM24.77bil in 2015, representing a huge increase of 27% compared with RM19.46bil in 2014,” Lim said.
However, he highlighted that the significant increase is not comparable, as the Department of Statistics had adopted a different method of compiling statistics for the plastics industry in 2015.
“Besides the many business challenges and issues faced by the plastics industry, MPMA is actively addressing the increasing misconception of plastics, in particular, polystyrene and plastic bags,” Lim said.
He said the MPMA is providing the necessary scientific facts to address this misconception and reiterated that banning polystyrene and plastic bags or any other products would not be the answer towards solving the countrys environmental issues.
He said: “It is not the product that pollutes the environment, but litterbugs who indiscriminately throw their rubbish.”
On this note, Lim said the sustainability projects undertaken by MPMA, focused on anti-littering and the 3Rs of reduce, reuse and recycle.
These projects include the MPMA-Chevron Phillips Chemical Young Sustainability Innovators Award 2015, MPMA-ExxonMobil collaterals, “Fantastic Plastics” Booklet and “Lets Practice 3Rs” magnetic sticker.
Lim said that for this year, MPMA would be organising more anti-littering and 3R activities.
Source : thestar.com.my