KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Plastics Manufacturers Association says the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will create a wider market for its members’ products, enhance employment and improve competitiveness.

The TPPA, which would cover 40 per cent of global output, is also expected to increase trade and investment activities, promote advanced technologies, raise living standards and enhance environmental protection, the association’s President Datuk Lim Kok Boon said.

“We are of the considered view that the TPPA will indeed be good for our members in view of the huge market potential.

“We look forward to the government authorities concluding the signing of the TPPA as soon as possible,” he noted in a statement here today.

He said two cost-benefit studies — the National Interest Analysis by the Institute of Strategic and International Studies, and the Study on Potential Economic Impact of TPPA on the Malaysian Economy and Selected Key Economic Sectors by PricewaterhouseCoopers — have shown favourable outcomes.

He said the studies project that the TPPA will result in an increase of output of Malaysian products, including petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products.

The trade pact will also have a positive impact on automotive parts and components as well as the electrical and electronics industries, he said.

“The plastics industry is a strong supporting industry to these two sectors by supplying quality parts and components,” Lim said, adding that given the relatively small domestic market, the local plastics industry relies heavily on exports.

Currently, there are about 1,200 plastics manufacturing companies, employing a total workforce of about 80,000.

In 2014, the Malaysian plastics industry registered a total turnover of RM19.37 billion, with 62 per cent of the total plastic finished products manufactured in Malaysia worth RM11.94 billion exported.

“Traditionally, the European Union, Japan, Australia and Singapore are our main export destinations.

“The US was once our major export market but since the withdrawal of the General Scheme of Preferences (GSP) in the late 1990s, our exports to the US have declined substantially.

“The elimination of import tariff and non-tariff barriers will open up greater export opportunities to the US as well as to Canada and Mexico,” Lim said.

Tags: Malaysian Plastics Manufacturers Association, Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, TPPA