Ministry of International Trade and Industry expects exports from E & E sector to reach RM300b in 2017

KULIM: The Ministry of International Trade and Industry expects exports from the electric and electronics (E & E) sector to reach RM300 billion this year despite concerns over living costs and the uncertainty due to a looming general election.
Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed expressed confidence that the record-setting figure can be attained, saying from Jan to Aug, E &E exports amounted to RM220.56 billion despite current concerns.
It is a growth of 21.4%, compared to the same period last year.
Therefore, Mustapa is bubbling with confidence that electronic exports in the country could touch RM300 billion by this year.
"E & E has shown an upward trend in exports for the past three years and that makes it the only industry that recorded a trade surplus for three consecutive years. Last year, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority approved a total of 107 E & E projects with investments of RM9.24 billion.
Of these, RM1.29 billion was from domestic sources while RM7.94 billion was foreign, Mustapa noted.
These have created over 16,200 job opportunities in Malaysia.
"For the first half of this year, the approved investments in the E & E industry are 47, recording a total of RM5.8 billion, which is already 62.8% of the total approved investments in the E & E sector last year."
According to him, the industry offers a good prospect for investors to tap as Malaysia was now the world's seventh largest exporter of E & E products with a total export of RM287.7 billion last year.
Mustapa said this before opening the LED lighting giant - OSRAM Opto Semiconductors' production plant in Kulim here on Thursday.
Present were Osram Licht AG chief executive officer (CEO) Dr.Olaf Berlien and Osram Opto Semiconductors CEO Aldo Kamper
Mustapa said Malaysia and Osram have had a long-standing partnership that dated back to the 1970s when Osram first commenced its operations in the country.
He added that the company has invested a total of RM3 billion as at 2015, and is one of the largest employers in the northern region; employing more than 5,600 Malaysians in the country.
The company's total investments in the Kulim plant as at Oct this year is RM4.2 billion and it plans to offer up to 7,790 jobs by 2022, whereby 73% of the jobs are for the locals.
Later Olaf told a press conference that Osram had completed the plant's first phase with 1,500 employees and they would plan for the second phase in 2018.
At the same time, Aldo said the new plant can produce blue LED chips which means a converter layer that can generate white light.
He said the Kulim plants would produce for general lighting purposes such as public street lighting, facade lighting for private and commercial enterprises as well as for interior and exterior lighting of billboards.