KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 (Bernama) — The cement industry is expected to see reasonable growth in the next two to three years on the support from the major government infrastructure development projects.

Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, said the construction sector recorded between five and six per cent growth for the past few years.

“Although demand for high-end residential units had softened, the government is continuously pushing to spur construction in the form of affordable housing, the Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development and Mass Rapid Transit projects, among others,” he told reporters at the 50th Anniversary of Cement and Concrete Association (C&CA) here Wednesday.

He said these projects were the major consumers of cement.

Mustapa said the prospects of the industry would continue to be good for cement and construction sector as a whole.

Meanwhile, C&CA Chairwoman, Datuk Yeoh Soo Keng, said the association hoped the...

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 (Bernama) — Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) expects total trade between Malaysia and China to increase to US$110 billion (US$1 = RM4.17) this year from US$102 billion last year.

Matrade Chief Executive Officer Datuk Dzulkifli Mahmud said the increase would be driven by a commitment made by both nations to increase two-way trade to US$160 billion by 2017.

“Despite the current economic challenges, China remains our important trading partner whereby during the first eight months of this year, our trade with China increased 9.6 per cent to RM147.55 billion.

“Our exports to China rose 9.3 per cent to RM65.17 billion while imports rose 9.8 per cent to RM82.18 billion,” he told a press conference after officiating the “Leveraging on Renminbi to Enhance Exports to China” seminar here Monday.

The half-day seminar was organised by Matrade as part of its effort to encourage local companies to use renminbi in their trade with China...

KUALA LUMPUR: Perbadanan Pembangunan Perdagangan Luar Malaysia (Matrade) menyasarkan untuk meningkat eksport barangan pertanian ke Turki tahun ini, diperkukuh oleh permintaan yang semakin meningkat ke atas buah-buahan tropika di negara itu.

Pesuruhjaya Perdagangan Matrade di Istanbul Idzham Abd Hamid berkata buah-buahan tropika seperti nanas, belimbing dan buah naga, mendapat permintaan tinggi di Turki.

Istanbul kini mengimport sebagaian besar buah-buahan tropika dari Belanda.

“Kita patut merebut peluang untuk mengeksport (lebih banyak) buah-buahan tropika kita ke negara itu,” katanya kepada pemberita di uar seminar Perjanjian Perdagangan Bebas (FTA) Malaysia-Turki, di sini, Rabu.

Eksport utama Malaysia ke Turki bagi tempoh Januari hingga Julai 2015 terdiri daripada barangan pertanian, dengan dagangan bagi segmen itu bernilai  RM386 juta, diikuti barangan pembuatan (RM1.2 bilion) dan barangan perlombongan  (RM3.3 juta).

Seminar bertema ‘Memanfaatkan FTA...