SHAH ALAM, Jan 15 — Malaysia is looking forward to venture into new areas of collaboration with China, particularly in high-tech and automotive products, to enable its exports to China to bounce back. Second International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan said the initiative would help strengthen bilateral trade ties between the two countries.

Malaysia’s exports to China declined to about US$97 billion (RM425.7 billion) in 2015 from US$100 billion the previous year.

“The decline in our exports to China is partly due to the world economic slowdown, China’s stock market (turmoil) and weakening of the ringgit,” he told reporters after the launch of the PxP Viral Social E-Commerce platform here, today. “However, it is just a temporary adjustment.

“We have already signed an agreement of understanding with China, where we are targeting to achieve (exports worth) US$160 billion in 2017. At this moment, we just leave it as it is.”

Ong said at present, the main exports to China are commodities, mostly palm oil, petroleum and steel. “We have to find new areas (to trade with China),” he said. “For instance, our local automotive industry is currently very small, like Perodua and Proton, (produce) only between 100,000 and 200,000 cars a year.

“While in China, they produce 23.7 million cars a year. For a start, if we could secure 200,000 to 300,000 of their market, that would already help us a lot.”

PxP Viral Social E-Commerce provides an innovative approach to e-commerce that leverages data analytics to help businesses target and convert customers more effectively. — Bernama