M'sian SMEs In Kunming To Penetrate Southern China

By Kenny Teng Khoon Hock KUNMING (China), June 6 (Bernama) -- A number of Malaysian SMEs are in this capital city of Yunnan province to participate in the 20th China Kunming Import and Export Fair that kicked off Wednesday. Their aim is to penetrate the South China market. Kenny Lin Chek Toong, Market Manager at Gin Seng Industrial (M) Sdn Bhd, said his company's target was to record US$78,829 (RM250,000) in sales during the five-day Kunming Fair. "With our specialty products, we hope to be able to penetrate the Southern China market as the population is huge," he told Bernama at the company's exhibition booth in the Kunming International Convention and Exhibition Centre. He said Gin Seng was already in talks with a potential Chinese wholeseller and was looking forward to securing contracts over the next few days. "With the help of Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade), we only spend about US$3,153 (RM10,000) in order to have our products exhibited here," he said. Michael Wong, a director at bird's nest company Mememory Mark that already has four branches in China, said the fair would serve as a platform for the company to expand its business in Yunnan province. The company would like to set up a new branch in Yunnan, he said. "Malaysia contributes about 30 per cent of the world bird's nest industry and we hope to promote our speciality to the people here," he said. He said Malaysia produces good quality nests and with the very high demand for Malaysian nests here, the company would continue to expand its business here. The bird's nest industry was now growing rapidly in China following the lifting of the import ban on bird's nests from Malaysia, he said. "Last year, we had an issue of nitrate content in our Malaysian bird's nests but after the issue has been resolved, the demand for our bird's nest has been good," he said. It was reported that the annual Kunming Fair recorded about US$69.9 billion in terms of total trade volume last year. More than 30 countries including Iran, Australia, Jordan, Kenya, Japan and Italy take part this year's event that was officiated by China's Commerce Vice Minister Chen Jian. -- BERNAMA