HATYAI, April 20 — The Embassy of Malaysia in Bangkok is aiming to promote Malaysian products and penetrate the Thailand market through the “Taste of Malaysia” campaign.
The embassy is in collaboration with Thailand’s Agriculture Counsellor Office, retail chain Lee Wiwat Store in Songkhla and Wang Mart Co as distributors for the campaign, which runs from April 16 to 24, 2022.
Malaysian Ambassador to Thailand Datuk Jojie Samuel said with 12 outlets in Songkhla, Lee Wiwat Store is a good platform for Malaysian products to penetrate Thailand’s market and strengthen border trade between the two neighbouring countries.
“We are looking at introducing more Malaysian products into Thailand but consumer acceptability is one of the key challenges.
“A company has to be well-established to gain consumer acceptance so it takes a longer time to penetrate the market here,” he told Bernama.
Jojie said the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries (MAFI) office in Bangkok are also collaborating through various initiatives to penetrate the Thailand market.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Counsellor Office, Bangkok, counsellor Hairuddin Maslan said with the ease of Covid-19 restrictions on physical events, more promotional programmes for Malaysian food products will be held this year to ensure that Malaysian brands remain relevant and in high demand in the Thailand market.
“The Agriculture Counsellor Office will work with agencies under MAFI such as Fama and other agencies such as Matrade to identify products that have the potential to be marketed at Lee Wiwat Store to achieve the target of 50 stock keeping units (SKU) for 2022,” he said.
He noted that there are currently 30 SKUs listed at Lee Wiwat Store.
Thailand is Malaysia’s 6th largest trade partner in the world and the second biggest in Asean with a value of RM98 billion in 2021.
Economic activities at the border areas account for 50 per cent of total bilateral trade between Malaysia and Thailand.
During the recent visit of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to Thailand, both countries committed to continue their close cooperation to realise the bilateral trade target of US$30 billion (RM128 billion) by 2025. — Bernama
