Moa Encourages Malaysian Food Entrepreneurs To Tap Australian Market

From Noor Soraya Mohd Jamal SYDNEY, Sept 30 (Bernama) -- Malaysian food entrepreneurs, especially small and medium enterprises, are encouraged to tap the Australian market as there is huge demand and potential for Asian food products. Ministry of Agriculture's (MOA) Consul/Director here, Nor Azian AB Latif, said most Malaysian processed edible products met the requirements imposed by the Australian government, which made it easier to gain access to the vast Australia consumer market. "We focus on products which can gain direct access to the Australian market as they have already fulfilled requirements like having health certificates. These products are easy to gain entry compared to the raw ones where the requirements are higher. "Frozen products like curry puff, roti canai, fish crackers and paste food, which are the favourites among the Australian community, received higher demand," she told Bernama here. Last year, total edible products and preparation export to Australia amounted at US$164.82 million (RM731 million) out of the US$315.79 million (RM1.4 billion) of Malaysian foodstuff export to the country. (US$1=RM4.43) For the first four months of 2015, export value for foodstuff stood at US$48.94 million (RM217 million). Azian said MOA on Sunday brought eight Malaysian entrepreneurs interested in penetrating the Australian market to participate in Malaysia Festival (Mfest) as one of its efforts to increase market access and exposure to local entrepreneurs. The festival, its 25th year this year, is a major Malaysian event held once a year in Sydney and organised by the Malaysian student community. According to Azian, Mfest was successful in grabbing the attention of the Australian locals in the past by attracting a massive crowd of up to 25,000 people and in line with MOA's objective to increase demand for Malaysian products. MOA partnered with Mfest to organise the event, where it provided space for the entrepreneurs to market their wares and promote their brands. The ministry also organised a knowledge-sharing and business-matching sessions for the entrepreneurs, Azian said. She said the Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement, which was implemented in 2013, has bolstered trade relations between the two countries. The agreement, among others, provided preferential tariff for all Malaysian products entering Australia. Meanwhile, on other developments, Azian said, Malaysia and Australia were in the process of preparing the new memorandum of understanding (MOU) under agriculture cooperation. "The MOU expired in 2012. We are undertaking efforts to renew it and make it more comprehensive like adding more sectors which previously were excluded and expanding market access. "For example, we are trying to gain market access for jackfruit and pineapples. Previously, we could only export processed pineapples," she said. MOA also works closely with government agencies and industry groups as well as conducting market intelligence and observing how other countries successfully gain market access for their products in Australia. Current agriculture trade between both countries is in favour of Australia as Malaysia imported US$252.76 million (RM1.12 billion) of agriculture products from Australia and exported US$103.81 million (RM460 million) between January to April 2015. Malaysia's top agriculture exports to Australia are foodstuff, coffee, cocoa, tea, spices, seafood, cereal, sugar and honey while top import items are meat, dairy products, cereals, foodstuff and live animals. -- BERNAMA