Export revenue of biotech products to double to RM2b in 2016
Published on: Saturday, December 19, 2015
Kuala Lumpur: The total export revenue of biotechnology products is expected to double to RM2 billion next year from RM1 billion this year.Malaysian Biotechnology Corp Sdn Bhd (BiotechCorp) Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Mohd Nazlee Kamal, said 70 per cent of the total export revenue would come from the wellness industry and 30 per cent from food and other segments."This is due to foreign exchange factor as the companies will benefit from the lower ringgit against the US dollar.
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"The production cost remains the same and the companies will earn more ringgit as the products are being sold in US dollars," he told reporters after the conference on 'Bioeconomy Investment Networking Session 2015' here Friday.The networking session, which gathers representatives from biotech companies and financial institutions, aims to address financing mechanisms for start-ups, mid-stage and late-stage companies. Mohd Nazlee said today's networking session was expected to help biotech companies secure funding from financial institutions as the current funding mechanism covered only 10 per cent of project cost.On biotech investment, he said, Malaysia raked in about RM4 billion this year.
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For next year, he said, the investment was expected to decline to RM2 billion. "This is due to various global economic factors. For next year, we foresee 70 per cent of the investments would be domestic and 30 per cent foreign direct investment," he said. From 2011 until 2015, BiotechCorp secured investments close to RM25 billion as of September 2015, exceeding the Malaysia's Biotechnology Policy's target of RM9 billion, he said.
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Mohd Nazlee said RM5 billion investments had been realised while another RM25 billion will be realised gradually. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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