Nine foreign manufacturers closed their Malaysian operations during pandemic, Dewan Rakyat told

KUALA LUMPUR: Nine foreign manufacturing companies shut down operations in Malaysia from March last year until May this year, the Dewan Rakyat was told on Wednesday (Oct 6).

Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Lim Ban Hong said these companies were involved in the textile, steel and machinery, chemicals, building materials, electrical and electronics sectors.

They were Esquel Malaysia Sdn Bhd (Penang), Esquel Malaysia (Kelantan) Sdn Bhd, Pen Apparel Sdn Bhd, Syarikat Bekaert Ipoh Sdn Bhd, HOWCO Metal Management Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Transnorm Sdn Bhd, Terreal Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Sika Kimia Sdn Bhd, and Sony EMCS (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.

Lim explained that among the factors for the closures were the stagnating global economy caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and weak market due to declining international sales and demand.

"Aside from that, operational cost increase, competition from similar manufacturers in local and foreign markets, a lack of demand for certain products and the restructuring of companies" also played a part, he added.

Lim was responding during Question Time to William Leong (PH-Selayang), who asked about the number foreign investors that had shut down their operations in Malaysia.

However, Lim stressed that RM107.5bil worth of approved investments were recorded from January to June this year, a 69.8% increase from the same period last year (RM63.3bil).

Of that amount, Lim said foreign direct investment (FDI) contributed RM62.5bil, a 214.9% increase over the same period last year (RM19.8bil).

Among the high-impact investments in Malaysia were South Korea's SK Nexilis, Risen Energy and Porsche AG.