Mustapa: ‘Last year was a good year for electronics and semiconductor.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is gaining momentum in the export of aerospace parts and components after the industry's strong growth in 2016, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
He said Malaysia's exports of aerospace products increased 32.6% in 2016 to RM5.53 billion compared with RM4.17 billion in 2015, with aerospace parts and components being the main export.
In a statement following the Malaysian Aerospace Council (MAC) meeting on Friday, Mustapa said the positive growth was portrayed in the total revenue recorded in 2016, which totalled RM12.7 billion.
"It was a remarkable year particularly for the aerospace manufacturing sub-sector which secured a revenue of RM6.4 billion, an 11% increase compared to 2015.
"The maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) sub-sector recorded RM5.7 billion in revenue, mainly supported by the expansion of aero-engine and component MRO activities," he added.
Mustapa said that in 2016, nine aerospace projects with investments totalling RM1.6 billion were approved, of which RM889.4 million were foreign investments. The projects were expected to generate 1,766 jobs.
As part of the Government's efforts to develop small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to participate in the global aerospace supply chain, he said a structured SME development programme was launched under the Economic Transformation Programme's Business Services Entry Point Project 8.
In 2016, 10 SMEs were selected to participate in the programme and another 10 were to be selected for this year's programme, said the statement.
Mustapa said a new set of key performance indicators were to be achieved for this year's EPP8 - RM24.6 million cumulative sales for 20 SMEs and 500 Requests for Quotations for 10 new SMEs. - Bernama
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