Matrade Eyes US$48.8 Mln Sales By Local Aviation Firms At KLIABC 2016

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 (Bernama) -- The Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) eyes over US$48.87 million (RM200 million) worth of transactions by 70 local aviation companies during the upcoming Kuala Lumpur International Aerospace Business Convention (KLIABC) 2016 on Dec 7-9. (US$1 = RM4.09) MATRADE Chief Executive Officer Dzulkifli Mahmud said 37 local companies generated sales of over US$33.47 million (RM137 million) last year, as a result of the KLIABC business-to-business matching sessions. "The figure is small as only the local companies provided us their sales numbers. "Overall, we expect more than ​200​ companies worldwide to participate in this year's event, with 130 organisations from 30 countries registered so far," he told a press conference on the KLIABC here Friday. The three-day KLIABC 2016, to be organised by Matrade and French-based ABE Aerospace France, features 12 presentations from prominent local and international speakers. Commenting on the local aerospace industry, Dzulkifli said Malaysia has the potential to become the regional Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) hub as it has the talent pool at its disposal. Dzulkifli said Malaysia has 56 aerospace-related training programmes so far and produced 54 per cent skilled workers for the industry in Southeast Asia. "Total export for aerospace industry last year reached US$1.02 billion (RM4.2 billion), up 44.7 per cent from 2014 with the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan and Thailand being our main export destinations. "Our main exports are aircraft parts and components and we can easily achieve a minimum of 20 per cent higher exports for aircraft parts and components per annum," he said. However, he said Malaysia still had trade deficit in the sector considering its large import for aircraft worth RM10.02 billion last year. There were more than 200 aerospace companies in Malaysia and the investment in the industry reached RM4.7 billion last year. The industry provides 20,000 jobs, mostly in the small and medium enterprise sector and is recognised as one of the most important sectors in the Malaysian economy. -- BERNAMA