Benefits for new exporters development

SMEs selected into the programmes are entitled to receive the following grooming features and benefits:

• Customised business coaching, facilitated by MATRADE officers who act as coaches and focal point for reference to the companies in their export venture. Coaches are experienced and trained officers who have extensive knowledge in export promotion through years of exposure in overseas assignment. This arrangement is supported by officers from the Bumiputera and Women Exporters Development Unit (BWED Unit) who serve as project officers responsible for the companies’ files and records.
• Skills enhancement trainings which are conducted on quarterly basis in the form of seminars and workshops. These trainings address critical topics such as :
  • ”Cross Cultural Understanding In International Business”;
  • ”Steps to Successful Exporting”;
  • ”International Business Communications”;
  • ”Effective Negotiation Skills”;
  • ”Formulating Export Plan & Market Entry Strategies”;
  • ”Effective Bookkeeping for Exporters”; and
  • ”Branding for Global Market”.
Participation in these trainings is free of charge.
• International business exposure in which companies are given opportunities, three times in a year to promote their products and services through participation in international trade fairs, customised selling missions and specialised marketing missions. Besides, companies could also exhibit their products and services for free of charge for one-year term at Malaysia Export Exhibition Centre (MEEC). This exposure allows the entrepreneurs to obtain first hand experience in marketing their products and services in global business environment.
• Networking and mentoring sessions amongst the companies to broaden business outreach and sharing of experience. This also enables companies to share information on business opportunities and market entry strategies.
• Leadership and entrepreneurial qualities development sessions, held to nurture behaviour that promotes and binds interpersonal relationships which is vital in creating an effective business cooperation. Companies graduated from the programme are encouraged to share their experience and inspire others, particularly for the newcomers to unleash their full potential in export business.

Enquiries

For enquiries, please contact:

Bumiputera and Women Exporters Development Unit (BWED Unit)
Level 15, Menara MATRADE
Jalan Khidmat Usaha, Off Jalan Duta
50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603-6207 7077
Fax: 603-6203 7194

Malaysian customs officers seize drugs worth $290,000 at KLIA

SEPANG - A novel way of smuggling drugs into the country was discovered when the authorities seized more than 2,500 pieces of keychains which were stuffed with amphetamines at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Free Zone Area recently.

Each keychain contained an average of four grammes of drugs.

The total weight of the drugs found was 7.25kg and its worth about RM725,000 (S$290,000).

KLIA Customs Department director Badaruddin Mohamed Rafik said the keychains arrived in two containers from Madras, India, on Oct 15.

Following a tip-off two weeks later, Customs officers checked a warehouse and found the keychains.

"Each keychain contained a small cloth pouch. The drugs, which were in the form of a crystal-like substance, were packed into the pouch.

"The pouch was then sandwiched in between two small aluminium plates," said Badaruddin, adding that aluminium plates were used as the drugs could not be detected through the scanners.

The keychains were in boxes with "Mofaz Motorsikal Sdn Bhd" printed on them.

The recipient of the boxes was from Cheras.

However, the boxes of keychains were left unclaimed in the warehouse for two weeks before the authorities seized them.

In an unrelated case, Badaruddin also said that the KLIA Customs department had arrested 58 drug traffickers and seized drugs worth RM30.8 million so far this year.

Most of those arrested were Nigerians and Indians.

Palm slips as high exports may do little to cut stocks

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures inched down on Wednesday as the strongest exports recorded for this year may do little to cut into high stocks at a time when output is surging in the world's second largest producer of the edible oil.

Cargo surveyor data showed that Malaysian palm oil shipments in October climbed to about 1.6 million tonnes -- the highest this year, although stocks are set to hit another record beyond 2.48 million tonnes.

"Based on the shipment number, we will still end up with a higher stockpile because October's production is still very high," said OSK Research analyst Alvin Tai.

"Exports rising higher month-on-month is not surprising, but the quantum still needs to be stronger."

The benchmark January contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed 0.2 percent lower at 2,496 ringgit ($819) per tonne.

Total traded volumes stood at 28,495 lots of 25 tonnes each, slightly higher to the usual 25,000 lots.

Technicals showed that the bearish target of 2,379 ringgit per tonne for Malaysian palm oil has been adjusted to 2,468 ringgit based on its falling speed, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.

Palm oil dropped to a two-week low earlier this week after its biggest rival and top producer Indonesia planned to lower monthly export taxes in November after international prices fell this month.

The lower taxes will lift margins for Indonesians and shift demand away from competing Malaysian products. Officials in Jakarta said they will not alter their tax structure which is aimed at driving its domestic palm oil downstream industry.

"The export tax structure is progressive and it has been adjusted to fluctuated palm oil prices in the international market," director general of agriculture-based industry Benny Wachjudi said at an industry meeting.

"It is very different from the Malaysian government's export tax policy. I am sure Malaysian export tax policy will not last long because it is not adjusted to the development on palm oil prices in the international market."

Brent crude held steady near $109 a barrel on Wednesday after the huge storm Sandy whiplashed the U.S. East Coast, reducing fuel demand even as refineries in the region gradually resumed operations.

U.S. soyoil for December delivery inched up 0.7 percent in late Asian trade. The most-active May 2013 soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 0.7 percent. - Reuters

Sembcorp Marine's quarterly profit plunges

SINGAPORE - Sembcorp Marine yesterday reported its third-quarter net profit plummeted 48.1 per cent from the corresponding period a year earlier mainly due to the timing of revenue recognition of its rig building projects.

Net profit for the three months ended Sept 30 was S$115.5 million as revenue fell 31.5 per cent to S$892.4 million, it said.

But the outlook remains positive for the world's second-largest rig builder. Offshore exploration and production spending continues to remain buoyant with discoveries in frontier areas and around the deepwater basins of the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, East and West Africa and Nigeria.

"Overall, enquiries continue to be healthy although competition remains keen and affects margin," it added.

Sembcorp Marine has secured orders worth a total of S$9.1 billion so far this year, taking its net order book to a record high of S$12.1 billion, with deliveries extending till 2019.

Before the earnings announcement, Sembcorp Marine shares fell 1 cent to close at S$4.69. AGENCIES