KUALA LUMPUR: Durian and its by-products rank number one among searches by consumers from China on Alibaba.com.
Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan told the Dewan Rakyat that durian-related searches came out tops.
He said that the government was studying means to export the whole fruit as currently, only the durian pulp, durian fruit with seeds, and other by-products such as cookies, are exported.
“The Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry is looking at ways to make the export of durian and durian-related products easier, and the outcome would be made known soon.
“Those who are interested can start to plant durian trees,” he added, teasing the MPs at the Dewan Rakyat today.
Ahmad was responding to questions by Beruas MP Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham on whether the government had a simple system for large-scale durian cultivators to export their produce.
He said this was especially important to prevent the fall in prices due to oversupply which Malaysia had previously experienced as with the cultivation of rubber and oil palm.
Ngeh said this based on estimates that Malaysia’s durian exports are projected to be at RM100 million in 2017, compared to RM74 million in 2016.
Ahmad also said that trade with China stood at RM212.94 billion, a jump of 24.8 per cent in the first nine months of the year compared to RM170.64 in the same period last year.
He said that export to China from Jan to Sept also grew by 35.3 per cent to RM91.87 billion, compared to the corresponding period in 2016.
The total import from Malaysia to China on the other hand is RM121.08 billion.
Ahmad said that as of Dec 31 2016, 220 manufacturing projects have been carried out by China in Malaysia with a total of RM14.2 billion investment.
“These projects have created 33,020 job opportunities,” he said while responding to Pendang MP Datuk Othman Abdul’s questions on Malaysia’s export to China.
Othman also said that the RM240.91 billon trade with China in 2016 was beneficial to the country and definitely did not mean that Malaysia was selling itself to the republic as purported by the opposition.
He also asked Ahmad if there were guarantees that these large scale investors from China would give priority to employing locals.
In his reply, Ahmad said that foreign investments does not mean colonialisation as Malaysia receives RM556.7 billion in foreign investment while investing RM573.5 billion internationally.
“In August this year Alliance Steel (Sdn Bhd) had a job fair to attract people to work with them at their mill Malaysia China Kuantan Industrial Park. Of the 4,000 jobs offered, 1,000 have been filled and there are still 3,000 up for grabs. This is proof that such allegations are untrue and baseless,” he added.