KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) helped create export opportunities for Malaysian medical devices and healthcare services in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region by spearheading the participation of Malaysian companies at the Arab Health 2020 trade fair in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
Matrade director of lifestyle and life sciences Naim Abdul Rahman said in a statement the participation in Arab Health 2020 was in line with Matrade’s strategy of boosting exports of Malaysian medical devices and healthcare services particularly to the MENA region.
He said the effort was also aimed at diversifying export markets from the usual Western Europe markets to emerging markets in the MENA region.
“Malaysia’s total exports of medical devices to the region in 2019 were valued at RM657.7 million, accounting for a 2.75 per cent share of Malaysia’s global exports.
“Malaysia’s total exports of medical devices reached RM23.9 bilion in 2019, registering an increase of 3.6 per cent compared to 2018,“ he said.
Naim said there is still a lot of potential to be explored, and participation in large-scale events such as Arab Health helps to boost Malaysia’s brand among the buyers there.
The event, held from Jan 27 to 30, saw 18 Malaysian companies create a potential export value of RM700 million. This year also marks Matrade’s 16th participation at the event.
Products and services promoted to the over 100,000 global visitors to the fair included medical consumables, healthcare and wellness services as well as digital healthcare technology.
“Over the years, we can see that Malaysian medical devices are well accepted in the region, supported by Malaysia’s reputation as the world’s leading exporter of medical gloves and catheters, which are some key products categorised under medical devices,“ Naim added.
Meanwhile, Matrade’s trade commissioner in Dubai, Omar Mohd Salleh, said the UAE government has allocated US$1.32 billion for its healthcare sector’s development in 2020, and this can translate into business opportunities for Malaysian companies.
“During Arab Health 2020, our Malaysian companies reported receiving enquiries and buyers not only from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, but also from as far away as the United States, Brazil, Belgium, Peru, Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana,“ Omar said.
The top five export destinations for Malaysian medical devices in the MENA region last year were Turkey, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Oman.
Collectively, these markets took 73.3 per cent of Malaysia’s exports of medical devices to the region. -Bernama
