Malaysia has a population of about 32.8 million and is an emerging industrialized country. Its total GDP in 2022 is 406.3 billion US dollars, a year-on-year growth rate of 9% in US dollars, and its per capita GDP is about 12,400 US dollars, which is comparable to China's per capita GDP. Affected by the global economy and the decline in manufacturing, Malaysia's GDP growth rate is expected to be about 4% in 2023 and 4.3% in 2024.
Malaysia is rich in natural resources and ranks first in the world in rubber production. It is currently the world's third largest rubber exporter and the largest exporter of medical plastic gloves and catheters. Due to the global shortage of latex and the prevalence of infectious diseases, the demand for rubber medical supplies has increased greatly, and Malaysia's rubber and plastics industry is full of opportunities. In the past decade, Malaysia's plastics industry has maintained a high growth momentum of 15%. However, due to the weak industrial foundation of the country, Malaysia imports more than 10 billion US dollars of machinery and equipment each year. Therefore, whether from the perspective of scale, demand or market prospects, Malaysia is undoubtedly an important target market for my country's export of mechanical and electrical products.
Malaysia is known as a re-export country. It plays an important role in Southeast Asia and ASEAN. It is relatively close to West Asia, South Asia, Europe, America and Africa. As the country with the largest export volume of plastic products in ASEAN, it has more than 1,500 plastic production companies and about 80,000 employees in the industry. Among the plastic products in Malaysia, plastic bags, plastic films, household products and other packaging materials are the main ones, half of which are exported to major international markets including Europe, China, Singapore, Japan and Thailand. In 2015, the export value of plastic products in Malaysia increased by 8.5% from RM11.9 billion in 2014 to RM13 billion. In addition, the growing demand for locally manufactured parts has significantly increased the demand for molds and dies. Between 2013 and 2016, MIDA approved a total of 60 mold and die projects with an investment of RM693 million. The industry is moving towards advanced manufacturing technologies to meet the needs of large molds (over 10 tons) in the automotive industry and require precision molds (tolerances less than 5 microns) in the electrical and electronics (E&E) and telecommunications industries.
