KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) aims to increase agricultural goods exports to Turkey this year, bolstered by rising demand for tropical fruits in the country.
Matrade Trade Commissioner in Istanbul Idzham Abd Hamid said tropical fruits such as pineapple, starfruit and dragonfruit are in high demand in Turkey.
Currently, Istanbul imports tropical fruits mainly from Holland.
“We should take this opportunity to export (more of) our local tropical fruits to the country,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Malaysia-Turkey Free Trade Agreement (FTA) seminar yesterday.
Malaysia’s top exports to Turkey for the period of January to July 2015 were agricultural goods, with trade for the segment valued at RM386 million, followed by manufactured goods (RM1.2 billion) and mining goods (RM3.3 million).
The seminar, themed “Leveraging on Malaysia-Turkey FTA to Accelerate Exports”, aims to boost cooperation among small and medium enterprises, halal related areas, agriculture and food industry, research development and innovation.
It attracted 160 exporters.
Under the FTA, both countries will eliminate and bind duties at zero per cent for 70 per cent of the tariff lines, and going forward, the duties will be gradually reduced for almost 86 per cent of the tariff lines.
The FTA will also see market access improvement, including additional customs duties elimination for products like textiles, apparel and footwear as well as immediate duty-free treatment on rubber, wood and leather products among others.
Matrade is also optimistic that bilateral trade between Malaysia and Turkey could reach US$1 billion over the next 12 months as the FTA between both countries took effect on Aug 1, 2015.
The promotional arm of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry is expected to spearhead the participation of Malaysian companies in two specialised marketing missions to Istanbul held in conjunction with the four-day World Food Istanbul 2015. — Bernama