SME trade mission heads to Malaysia and Singapore
ELEVEN North West businesses, from a diverse range of sectors, are heading to the Far East in search of export business.
The firms from Manchester, Salford, Warrington, Widnes, Preston and Chorley, are taking part in a trade mission to high growth markets Malaysia and Singapore organised by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) in association with BAE Systems.
The trade mission is taking place from June 2 to 6 June, and coincides with the SME business matching forum SMIDEX 2014 at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
Defence giant BAE is working with UKTI to help local SMEs become involved in the aerospace supply chain and is contributing to the trade mission to help them develop contacts and opportunities through business to business matching, and by attending SMIDEX.
Participating companies include Protein Technologies, based at Manchester Science Park, which deals in fluorescent proteins, used in a range of fields from disease diagnostics, software development, packaging services, anti-counterfeiting, protein engineering and industrial biotechnology. PTL recently secured a contract in the Sabah region of Malaysia to undertake bio-prospecting, and hope to build on their success during the visit by making contacts with new customers for their other products and services.
Also taking part in the mission is Global Engineering Projects DO Ltd from Salford. GE Projects is a recruitment company, sourcing personnel for the oil, energy, construction and engineering sectors, the Royal Northern College of Music, Televic UK Ltd, Far East Consulting, Worldway Technologies and TechHealth Europe Ltd.
The Cheshire based representatives include Warrington-based Deemak International, a food sourcing company which helps UK food companies stay competitive by outsourcing some of their products in lower cost parts of the world, and access products supplier Haydock Access from Halebank, Widnes.
From Lancashire Preston Technical, and Chorley-based Greentrees International will be attending too. Preston Technical supplies a range of adhesive products for a markets including heavy engineering, aerospace, automotive, electronics, consumer white goods, display and signage and defence and security industries. Its aim is to establish links in Malaysia and Singapore to help develop sales in their assembly industries.
Philomena Chen, head of Asia Pacific business for UKTI North West says: “This is a great opportunity to have a presence at SMIDEX 2014 and meet potential customers, distributors and suppliers, and to visit two very vibrant markets with the support of an experienced UKTI team who can help with research and introductions.
“Since 2012, UK goods exports to Malaysia have grown by 30%. Goods exports to Malaysia from the UK in 2013 were £1.6bn which is up 8% from 2012. The total goods trade between UK and Malaysia in 2013 was £3.3bn, up 2.6% from 2012.
“Malaysia enjoys a competitive advantage, with an abundance of natural resources including petroleum, tin, timber, copper iron and natural gas, combined with a world class transport and telecommunications infrastructure.”
John Brosnan, BAE Systems’ regional managing director for South East Asia said: “Working in collaboration with local SMEs has been a key area of focus for our industrial strategy in the UK and abroad. Small and medium enterprises are the life-blood of national economies and we are pleased to be able to work with our colleagues in UKTI in bringing Malaysian and UK companies together.”
