By Mohd Haikal Mohd Isa

BANGKOK, March 20 (Bernama) -- Malaysian companies have been urged to take advantage of the the burgeoning Malaysia-Thailand border trade, said trade promotion agency, Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade).

Its Trade Commissioner to Thailand, Niqman Rafaee M. Sahar, said Malaysian companies could capitalise on the active border trade activities to penetrate the larger Thai market.

"About 60 per cent of our (Malaysia-Thailand) trade came from the border trade activities, so Malaysian companies could take advantage of it by setting up joint-ventures (JVs) or cooperation with Thai partners," he told Bernama.

He said Thailand, which has 69 million people and and 77 provinces, represented a big market for Malaysian companies and with the Thai partners, it would make their entry into the Thai market smoother.

Last year, total trade between Malaysia and Thailand reached rose eight per cent to RM86 billion from previous year.

He said among the products traded were rubber, wood, computers, car parts, motor generators, agro products, processed foods, telecommunications parts and electrical and electronic goods.

Matrade, said Niqman Rafaee, would be organising a border trade exposition in Kota Bahru from Aug 17-19 this year to spur more border trade activities.

"Over 100 Malaysian companies "will participate in this year's event.

"Last year's event, which was held in Songkhla, southern Thailand, recorded US$20 million (US$1=RM4.05) worth of JV deals between both countries' companies, as well US$2 million in direct sales for Malaysian companies," he said.

Niqman Rafaee said the Thai companies had been expanding their operations in CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) markets as well as in Malaysia and needed to source various products and raw materials.

"This represent an opportunity for Malaysian companies to become the suppliers to the Thai companies which are expanding in the CLMV market," he said.

The Thai government, he said, also planned to spend about RM30 billion on infrastructure, expecially in rail transportation.

"This represents an opportunity to Malaysia's iron and steel industry," he said.

On the overall trend of bilateral trade between both countries this year, Niqman Rafaee said, it would be positive throughout the year as the Thai economy was expected to see a slight recovery.

The Thai central bank, Bank of Thailand, he said, had forecast this year's gross domestic product to expand by three per cent while the local banks forecast the economy to chalk up 3.5 per cent growth.