Sandakan to become Sabah’s bird’s nest collection centre

SANDAKAN: The AMG Advance Profitable Enterprise plant in the Majulah Industrial Centre in Jalan Batu Sapi near here will become the collection centre for bird nest before being exported to China.

State Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Junz Wong said the district has been identified as the collection centre for bird’s nest through the company.

“The company has the standard operating procedure (SOP) and is ready to export bird’s nest to China,” he told reporters after visiting the factory yesterday.

He said bird’s nests have been exported to other countries except for China, which imposed a more stringent SOP as they are more cautious in the business.

“So now, we can say the factory started operations and has applied for a licence to export to China. We have completed the SOP and we are waiting for the auditor as well as China’s authorities to visit before being granted the licence. We hope to be able to export bird’s nests to China in three months,” he said.

Wong also gave his assurance that his ministry will expedite the issuance of the licence to AMG Advance Profitable Enterprise to ensure the development of the bird’s nest sector in Sabah.

Meanwhile, AMG Advance Profitable Enterprise managing director Shamsudin Chinu said his company would be expanding the existing factory and increase its staff strength to 1,000.

He said the demand for bird’s nests in China is more than 20 tonnes a month and the overall market could surpass 600 tonnes annually.

He said the company now has 60 workers and it will build 3,000 swiftlet houses compared to the existing 208 units now.