Chemical sector to see further growth if more big players participate in RAPID project

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s chemical industry is poised to continue growing this year, with approved investments in the chemical and chemical products sectors to surpass the RM4.1 billion chalked up in 2017 if more big players participate in the Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project.

Chemical Council Industries of Malaysia (CICM) deputy chairman, Datuk Muhtar Hashim, said there were more opportunities for the local and international players in the downstream petrochemical sector to set up manufacturing plants within the RAPID area.

“Raw materials for downstream and refinery activities are available now and the utility support will be safely said to be available from 2020, but I see that the opportunities are for bigger players as the investments required are high,” he told reporters after the preevent presentation yesterday of ACHEMA 2018, a world forum for chemical engineering, process engineering and biotechnology.

ACHEMA 2018, which will be held on June 11-15, 2018 at Frankfurt am Main, Germany, is expected to see more than 3,000 exhibitors from all around the world.

Muhtar said Malaysia’s chemical exports grew to RM68.58 billion last year compared to RM59.08 billion in the previous year.

“Chemical imports amounted to RM79.88 billion and major importers are from China, Singapore, Japan, United States and Indonesia,” he said.

On the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the chemical industry, he said, more efforts were needed to push them forward.

“I believe there are over 3,000 SMEs actively involved in the business and it is challenge to bring them forward,” he said, adding that 98 per cent of 107 CICM members were big players in the market, including Petroliam Nasional Bhd.

Therefore, he said, SMEs were encouraged to join ACHEMA 2018 to have an overview of the opportunities and an eye-opener to expand into international market.

DECHEMA Ausstellungs-GmbH ( organiser of ACHEMA 2018) Chief Executive Officer, Thomas Scheuring, said ACHEMA 2018 would serve as a platform to connect Malaysian and German SMEs and allow both parties to have a win-win situation.

“Malaysia has an abundance of raw resources, while Germans have the technologies. They should leverage on each others’ advantages, not to mention, 95 per cent of patented technologies and innovations are from German SMEs, not the big players,” he said.

Asked whether there were Malaysian companies registered as exhibitors so far, Scheuring said, according to the updated list, there were none yet.

“This shows that Malaysian chemical players are not internationalised yet, hence, they should participate now as ACHEMA 2018 is offering opportunity for them,” he said. — Bernama