Malaysia's petrochemical industry to draw more investments

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's petrochemical industry is likely to attract more investment inflows with the development of the Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) project, as investments have already hit RM15.3 billion in the first four months of this year, said the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI).

Its Secretary-General, Datuk Isham Ishak said the country had attracted 10 investments worth RM26 billion in the petrochemical industry last year.

"As we get closer to full production in Pengerang, we hope it will be an impetus, a magnet for other investors using Pengerang as their supply of inputs to produce more downstream products, especially in the plastic production.

“It is not a normal plastic as it use new kind of products," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference 2018 (APIC 2018) here, today.     

The Petronas’ PIC project, which is 93 per cent completed as at July 2018, is on track for refinery start-up by the first quarter of 2019.

Isham said MITI is confident that the investment scenario is moving towards a more progressive and interesting cycle as the new administration is strengthening its focus on transparency, while providing support for industries to grow.

He said a lot of enquiries, especially in the manufacturing industry, were streaming in following trade tension between the US and China.

Meanwhile, he noted that MITI would be launching a blueprint on Industry 4.0 in second week of September. 

"We do not want to be left out of this because if we maintain the level of technology that we have, we will be left behind," he said, adding that Industry 4.0 could help propel the manufacturing sector to greater heights and MITI hoped industry players would embrace the technology.

-- BERNAMA