MALAYSIAN COMPANIES CAN HELP REBUILD JAPAN

KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 (Bernama) -- Several local industries, especially
wood, rubber and petrochemical products, could take part in Japan's rebuilding,
the Senate was told Tuesday.

Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Mukhriz Mahathir said
wood products were needed for the reconstruction of buildings flattened by the
recent tsunami while rubber products were required for rescue operations and
healthcare.

He said the Japanese government had allocated an additional budget of RM147
billion (4 trillion yen) to rebuild the affected regions, including 60,000
temporary houses by the end of June.

"This is expected to provide ample opportunities for local wood, brick and
tiles companies to increase their export volumes for Malaysia is currently the
main supplier of the products to Japan," he said when winding-up debate on the
royal address.

In addition, he said the local petrochemical industry could also capitalise
on the closure of four Japanese petrochemical factories and the scaling down of
production at several petrochemical factories there.

Mukhriz said Japan was Malaysia's most important trading partner in Asia
with trade to Japan recorded an average increase of 3.2 per cent annually from
2006 to 2010.

He said last year, Japan became Malaysia's third largest export market and
made up Malaysia's biggest import with trading volume between the two countries
accounted for RM132.8 billion, an increase of 23.3 percent compared with RM107.7
billion in 2009.

In 2010, Malaysia's export to Japan worth RM66.3 billion while the import
valued at RM66.5 billion, he added.

He said for the period from January to February this year, Malaysia's export
to Japan was RM12.3 billion while the import was RM10.3 billion, an increase of
12.4 per cent compared with the corresponding period last year. (US$1=RM2.99)