MATRADE Eyes For 150 International Buyers For Mihas 2017 INSP

By Sharifah Pirdaus Syed Ali KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 (Bernama) -- The Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) is eyeing 150 buyers for the International Sourcing Programme (INSP), a business matching programme, during the forthcoming Malaysia International Halal Showcase (Mihas 2017). Director of Food, Biotech and Halal Unit, Mohd Aminuddin Sham Tajudin said MATRADE would arrange for about 1,500 business matching meetings, a day before Mihas. The 14th edition of Mihas is set for April 5-8 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. "We received more than 200 applications from buyers in 45 countries for INSP and are still vetting them for due diligence in order to match them perfectly. "Our focus this year is more on quality buyers with high volume buying and from new markets," he said recently. Mohd Aminuddin said new buyers this year would originate, among others, from Maldives, Jordan, Mauritius, Tanzania, Nepal and Lesotho. In the last five years, INSP saw many repeat buyers from India and China and "we expect to see more of them at the business matchings meetings this year", he said. The repeat buyers can also "walk-in" for business matching meetings as they are already familiar with the programme, he said. Mohd Aminuddin also said 70.4 per cent of the buyers were interested in food and beverages, palm oil products, cocoa butter and confectionery, 18.9 per cent were keen on pharmaceuticals and three per cent on machinery. He was optimistic, with quality buyers from new markets, sales generated via INSP this year would surpass last year's figure of US$107.5 million (RM478.7 million). "We urge more Malaysian sellers to come on board and participate in this programme as this is a good opportunity for them as Mihas and INSP are cost effective platforms to promote their products to overseas markets," he added. On last year's performance during Mihas, 413 exporters were matched with 584 foreign buyers from 365 companies in 40 countries. A total of 4,000 business matching meetings were arranged. Mohd Aminuddin said F&B sectors clinched the highest deals, valued at RM397.08 million (68.6 per cent) while non-food products like healthcare, pharmaceutical and cosmetics contributed RM177.17 million (30.6 per cent) of sales generated at last year's INSP. (US$1 = RM4.45) -- BERNAMA