GERMAN EXPERTS URGE MALAYSIAN TEXTILE COMPANIES TO PARTICIPATE IN FRANKFURT FAIR

By Manik Mehta

FRANKFURT, Jan 19 (Bernama) -- German experts have urged Malaysian textile
companies to participate in the Heimtextil and Techtextil fairs, rated as the
world’s biggest for the home-textile and technical textiles fairs respectively.

This would enable the companies to increase their international contacts and
exports, they said.

Olaf Schmidt, an expert on the global textile trade and vice president (textile
fairs) of Messe Frankfurt GmbH, which organises trade fairs, including
Heimtextil and Techtextil, said it would "benefit Malaysians if they took
advantage of the large international presence at the Heimtextil fair".

"The Heimtextil is a must for any country that wants to benefit from global trade.

"Globalisation has increased competition and Malaysians will find it
advantageous to make a pitch here for the value-added attributes of their
high-quality products," he told Bernama on the sidelines of the four-day
Heimtextil fair which ended on Saturday.

Schmidt wondered why countries like Malaysia, with their export-oriented
economies facing fierce competition, abstained from participating in such trade
fairs.

Indeed, Malaysia’s absence from the Heimtextil was incomprehensible for many
Germans who felt that with the strong growth posted by a number of traditional
markets, particularly Germany, it was a "serious lapse" for Malaysia’s textile
industry to ignore such an event.

Schmidt said the trade fair, from the business perspective of many
exhibitors, had "a very good run".

"The total number of exhibitors this year increased to 2,600, up 130 over 2010,"
he said.

The number of buyers had also increased, though the bulk of the growth came from
the rising number of foreign buyers, he said.

He said Asia was generally doing well; so were Germany, France and Spain.

Schmidt said although the US economy was still recovering, the number of buyers
from North America in Frankfurt had, in fact, increased because many Americans
come here to source their requirements.

"Malaysians would not only be meeting buyers from Germany and other
European countries but also from around the world," he said.

One Malaysian visitor at the show, who preferred to remain anonymous, said
Malaysia’s textile industry was "losing interest because it was condemned as a
sunset industry".

"But that is not the case. How does one explain the large contingent of
exhibitors from Singapore whose production and labour costs are much, much
higher than those of Malaysia?

"Unlike Singapore, Malaysia also has access to a larger domestic and regional
market in South-East Asia," he said.

Malaysian textile suppliers contend that they cannot afford to compete against
low-end suppliers from China, Vietnam and Bangladesh.

However, German experts do not share this view.

They argue that low-cost production was not the only factor in business.

Many buyers in the developed economies are willing to pay more if they can be
sure of better quality and reliability.

Rudolf Schroeder, a German importer of home textiles, said Malaysia’s better
quality and its post-sales services were strong attractions for buyers from the
West.

The "missed opportunity", as some described Malaysia’s absence at the fair, was
all the more conspicuous because other Asean countries demonstrated their
presence.

Singapore was represented by a contingent of 25 exhibitors at the fair, up from
18 in 2010.

Other Asean countries included Indonesia (5 exhibitors), Thailand (4) and
Vietnam (13).

The largest contingents came from China (425) and India (391). Pakistan had 212
exhibitors, while Taiwan and South Korea were represented by 65 and 29
exhibitors respectively.

The Heimtextil fair is often described as a barometer of not only the overall
mood of the industry but also of the world economy.

Detlef Braun, managing director of Messe Frankfurt, said the overall economic
mood in Germany was particularly upbeat, thanks to the strong economicgrowth the
country has been posting coupled with a rapid decline of unemployment.
-- BERNAMA