KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) office in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, will double its efforts to intensify export sales by leveraging on digital platforms amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Matrade Jeddah trade commissioner Yusram Yusup said throughout the outbreak, the office had responded with a series of measures to support the business community remotely, mainly through virtual initiatives in the form of online business-to-business meetings (eBizMatch), trade briefings, pitching sessions and webinars.
“In the new norm, we need to be creative and alter our way of doing business and, obviously, digitalisation is one of the tools, especially in reaching out to foreign buyers as well as enhancing trading with our existing contacts,” he said in a statement today.
Yusram said that Matrade Jeddah coordinated about 47 eBizMatch meetings between Malaysian suppliers and buyers, importers and distributors from countries like Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Morocco and other markets in the Middle East & North Africa (Mena) region.
Furthermore, Matrade Jeddah has disseminated 83 market alerts and trade leads received from foreign companies interested in sourcing products and services from Malaysia.
He noted that most of the sought-after products were medical devices, pharmaceutical products, rubber gloves, palm oil-based products, automotive & components, and food & beverages during the peak of the pandemic last year.
Malaysia’s trade with Saudi Arabia between January to November last year amounted to RM18.93 billion, down by 8.6% from 2019 due to the pandemic, with exports at RM3.80 billion and imports at RM15.13 billion.
During the same period, the country's major exports to Saudi Arabia were palm oil and palm oil products, electrical and electronic products, processed food, machinery, equipment and parts and manufactures of metal.
Meanwhile, Malaysian imports from Saudi Arabia were dominated by crude petroleum, representing 51.9% of Saudi's exports to Malaysia, followed by chemicals and chemical products and petroleum products. – Bernama, January 21, 2021
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