Awang Tengah: Sarawak trade rises 55% to RM141.2 bil in January-August 2022

KUCHING (Dec 1): Sarawak's total external trade for the first eight months of this year rose 55% to RM141.2 billion, compared with RM91.1 billion recorded for the same period last year. Sarawak Deputy Premier and Minister of International Trade, Industry and Investment Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said state exports rose 61.1% while imports rose 38.6%. "Trade-related activities too are expected to remain strong in 2022. Strong commodity prices continue to drive export growth, particularly in oil and gas, aluminium, ferroalloys as well as crude palm oil," he said when winding up for the ministry at the State Legislative Assembly on Wednesday. He said 28 manufacturing sector projects involving investment of RM2.26 billion were approved between January and June this year, of which RM1.02 billion was approved under the Industrial Coordination Act 1975 (ICA) and RM1.24 billion under the State Industrial Coordination Committee (ICC).

Three projects approved under the ICA were for electrical and electronics (E&E) products (substrates for hard disk) with an investment of RM1 billion, glass products (RM10 million), and tugboats (RM9 million). The remaining 25 projects approved under ICC were mainly E&E products involving solar ingot and wafer (RM1.13 billion), bottled drinking water (RM50.9 million), processed food (RM19.3 million), and warehousing, logistic, and engineering services (RM18.2 million). Awang Tengah said these projects are expected to create about 2,500 employment opportunities. Apart from these approved projects, the ministry also received applications for 46 projects with a total proposed investment of RM41.9 billion. These new projects worth RM35.45 billion in investment include green steel and chemical products while RM6.47 billion is reinvestment by existing investors involving silicon wafer chips, copper foil and solar ingots, and wafers. "The fact that these investors continue to reinvest and expand their businesses in Sarawak during these challenging times clearly reflects their confidence in the way we manage our economy and the political stability that we have," he added.

Souce of news: https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/awang-tengah-sarawak-trade-rises-55-rm1412-bil-januaryaugust-2022