Steady increase in halal exports
Malaysia’s export of halal products has been growing steadily by between RM4bil and RM5bil per annum, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
Export in 2015 was RM39bil against RM35bil in 2014, a significant increase from RM24bil in 2011.
“There has been a steady increase since 2011, and the annual growth of between RM4bil and RM5bil is what the Government expects.
“The top export markets for halal products over the years have been China, Singapore, the US, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand,” Mustapa said at the World Halal Week.
The Malaysia External Trade Development Corp pre-arranged business-matching sessions, International Sourcing Programme (INSP), involving 391 foreign buyers from 40 countries and over 600 Malaysian-registered companies for the event.
“The number of buyers is 27% higher compared to last year and the preliminary sale recorded was close to RM480mil for various products and services including food and beverages and cosmetics,” said Mustapa.
Pos Malaysia introduces e-commerce hub
To meet the growing needs of the local e-commerce industry, Pos Malaysia has launched its first e-Commerce Hub at the Pos Malaysia headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
Group CEO Datuk Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh said the revenue of Pos Laju courier services increased between 15% and 20% every year, adding that the services were mostly used for e-commerce purposes.
Serving as one of the group’s transformation strategies, the e-Commerce Hub will provide greater access to Pos Malaysia’s local and international logistics capabilities, infrastructure and delivery networks.
The hub provides various services such as kiosks offering various Pos Laju products and services, parcel lockers, prepaid dropbox and an Application Programming Interface (API).
The API is an advanced automation service that helps marketplaces and merchants to transact e-commerce faster while improving consumer satisfaction from the point of purchase to the point of delivery. The functions of API include tracking and tracing update of delivery, postcode look-up and service locator.
“The launch is just the beginning of our venture into the e-commerce business. There will be more services available in the future with more gadgets and equipment placed in each hub,” said Mohd Shukrie.
Additionally, Pos Malaysia will launch a self-service mobile app called e-Pos Laju very soon. Another 20 e-Commerce Hubs will be opened nationwide by the end of December 2017.
India approves FDI in e-commerce
India has approved 100% foreign investment in marketplace e-commerce companies, formalising rules for the first time for the multi-billion dollar sector.
India started opening up its retail sector in 2011, but did not lay down explicit rules governing foreign investment in the e-commerce segment.
In a notification on March 29, India’s commerce ministry said it would allow 100% foreign direct investment in marketplace e-commerce companies. They would also be allowed to provide services including warehousing, inventory and payments processing to merchants.
However, the notification said e-commerce companies would not be allowed to influence prices of the goods sold on their website, and that not more than 25% of goods sold can come from a single merchant.
The ministry also said foreign investment in inventory-based e-commerce companies, where goods sold were owned by the online retailer, would still not be allowed.
Global e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc, along with home-grown but foreign-funded rivals, Flipkart and Snapdeal, have been operating marketplace e-commerce companies that do not own inventory, but instead act as platforms connecting buyers and sellers through support services and for a commission.
“An explicit position from the government on where it stood with reference to e-commerce has been long overdue. In that sense, it is good that some clarity has been provided,” said Vivek Gupta, a partner at BMR Advisors.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has forecast Indian e-commerce will surge to US$220bil (RM869.24bil) in value of goods sold by 2025 from about US$11bil (RM43.44bil) last year, outpacing growth in brick-and-mortar retail.
Source - http://www.thestar.com.my/metro/smebiz/news/2016/04/04/smebiz-news-in-brief/