DURIAN, DURIAN BY-PRODUCTS MOST-SEARCHED ON ALIBABA.COM

Govt finding ways to export whole fruit, says deputy minister

DURIAN and its by-products rank No. 1 among Chinese consumer searches on Alibaba.com. Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan told the Dewan Rakyat that durian-related searches came out on top.

He said the government was studying methods to export the fruit, as currently, only durian pulp, the fruit with seeds and other by-products, such as cookies, were exported.

“The Agriculture and Agrobased Industry Ministry is looking into ways to make the export of durian and durian-related products easier.

“The outcome will be made known soon.

“Those who are interested can start planting durian trees.”

He was responding to questions by Beruas member of parliament Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham on whether the government had a simple system for large-scale durian cultivators to export their produce.

He said this was important to prevent the fall in prices due to oversupply, which Malaysia had experienced with the cultivation of rubber and oil palms.

Ngeh said this was based on estimates that Malaysia’s durian exports were projected to be at RM100 million this year, compared with RM74 million last year.

Ahmad said trade with China stood at RM212.94 billion, a jump of 24.8 per cent in the first nine months this year, compared with RM170.64 in the same period last year.

He said exports to China from January to September grew by 35.3 per cent to RM91.87 billion, compared with the corresponding period last year.

Malaysia’s import from China stands at RM121.08 billion.

Ahmad said as of Dec 31 last year, 220 manufacturing projects had been carried out by China in Malaysia with a RM14.2 billion investment.

“These projects have created 33,020 job opportunities,” he said in response to questions by Pendang MP Datuk Othman Abdul, on Malaysia’s export to China.

Othman said the RM240.91 billon trade with China last year was beneficial to the country, adding that it did not mean that Malaysia was selling itself to the republic as alleged by the opposition.

He asked Ahmad if there were guarantees that these large-scale investors from China would give priority to employing locals.

Ahmad said foreign investments did not mean colonialisation, as Malaysia received RM556.7 billion in foreign investment while investing RM573.5 billion internationally.

“In August this year, Alliance Steel (Sdn Bhd) had a job fair to attract people to work at their mill at the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park.

“Of the 4,000 jobs offered, 1,000 have been filled. This is proof that such allegations are untrue and baseless.”