Malaysia sets sights on becoming Asean pharmaceutical and healthcare hub
The expo, to be held at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur from Oct 7 to 9, is expected to attract over 100 companies, up from 70 last year, alongside policymakers, researchers and investors across Asean, India, Australia and South Korea. Organisers say the event will spotlight innovations in halal-certified drugs, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), biotech, regenerative medicine, telehealth and AI-driven diagnostics.
Malaysia-India Business Council general secretary Datuk Surendran Menon said trade between Malaysia and India stood at US$20 billion (RM84.6 billion) in 2024, but pharmaceuticals made up just US$96–$104 million of that figure, a sign of significant untapped potential.
'India is known as the pharma of the world, while Malaysia offers halal regulation expertise and a strategic Asean position.There's strong potential in contract manufacturing, technology transfer and joint R&D, especially in halal pharmaceuticals and vaccines,' Surendran told reporters at a media briefing today.
He said Malaysia imports over 70% of its pharmaceutical products, and the government's national pharmaceutical policy is pushing for greater domestic production, a move that could entice Indian firms seeking to expand into Asean markets.
He also pointed to India's own 200 million-strong Muslim population as an untapped market for halal pharma products manufactured in Malaysia.
'Even if we tap just 50 million of that halal market in India, it's far larger than our domestic market here. Halal-certified medicines made in Malaysia could be exported not just across Asean but also back into India itself,' he said.
This strategy, he added, would allow two-way investment flows, Indian companies bringing R&D and cost efficiencies to Malaysia, while Malaysian firms could set up manufacturing or joint ventures in India.
Asean-India Economic Council chairman Datuk Ramesh Kodammal said Malaysia stands to benefit from India's US$50 billion pharmaceutical export industry, particularly as Asean and India review their free trade agreement, which has been in place for 11 years.
'If we work closely with India, we will have a lot of benefit,' he said, adding Malaysia has a great advantage of re-exporting with these Indian companies for the Asean market a huge market of 700 million people.
Ramesh confirmed 40 Indian companies are slated to participate in MPHC 2025, alongside Asean, Australian and South Korean firms.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
8 minutes ago
- The Star
Oil prices fall on Opec+ output hikes
Brent crude futures settled US$1.12, or 1.63%, lower to US$67.64 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude slipped US$1.13, or 1.7%, to US$65.16. NEW YORK: Oil prices slipped on Tuesday as rising Opec+ supply and worries of weaker global demand countered concern about US President Donald Trump's threats to India over its Russian oil purchases. Brent crude futures settled US$1.12, or 1.63%, lower to US$67.64 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude slipped US$1.13, or 1.7%, to US$65.16. Both benchmarks settled to their lowest in five weeks. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, together known as Opec+, agreed on Sunday to raise oil production by 547,000 barrels per day for September, a move that will end its most recent output cut earlier than planned. "The significant increase in Opec supplies is weighing on the market," said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates. Also weighing on prices, US services sector activity unexpectedly flatlined in July with little change in orders and a further weakening in employment even as input costs climbed by the most in nearly three years, underscoring the ongoing drag of uncertainty over the Trump administration's tariff policy on businesses. "The market now is going to see if India and China agree to substantially reduce the purchases of Russian crude oil, thereby looking for alternative supplies elsewhere," Lipow said. Trump on Tuesday again threatened higher tariffs on Indian goods over the country's Russian oil purchases over the next 24 hours. Trump also said declining energy prices could pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt the war in Ukraine. New Delhi called Trump's threat "unjustified" and vowed to protect its economic interests, deepening a trade rift between the two countries. Oil's move since Trump's threat indicates that traders are sceptical of a supply disruption happening, John Evans of oil broker PVM said in a report. He questioned whether Trump would risk higher oil prices. "I'd call it a stable market for oil," said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS. "Assume this likely continues until we figure out what the US president announces in respect to Russia later this week and how those buyers would react." India is the biggest buyer of seaborne crude from Russia, importing about 1.75 million bpd from January to June this year, up 1% from a year ago, according to data provided to Reuters by trade sources. US crude inventories fell by 4.2 million barrels last week, sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures said on Tuesday. The US Energy Information Administration is due to release weekly U.S. inventory data on Wednesday, respectively. — Reuters
New Straits Times
8 minutes ago
- New Straits Times
African swine fever outbreaks intensify in Vietnam
Your browser does not support the audio element. HANOI: Vietnam has been hit by an increasing number of outbreaks of African swine fever, with the number of infected pigs more than tripling in two weeks, state media said yesterday. The country has detected 972 African swine fever outbreaks this year, up from 514 reported up to the middle of last month, the Tien Phong newspaper reported. The number of infected pigs has risen to more than 100,000 from 30,000 over the same period, the paper said, citing Vietnam's Agriculture Ministry. The infected pigs have died or been culled. "ASF has broken out on a very large scale across the country, seriously affecting the livestock industry, especially the supply of pork," Animal Husbandry Association of Vietnam chairman Nguyen Xuan Duong was quoted as saying. He added that no province is safe from the disease. African swine fever has disrupted the global pork market for years. In the worst outbreak over 2018-19, about half the domestic pig population died in China — the world's biggest producer — causing losses estimated at over US$100 billion. The outbreaks in Vietnam last month prompted Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to send an urgent directive to provinces and government agencies to deploy measures to curb the disease. Though Vietnam was the first country reportedly to have developed an African swine fever vaccine that has been in commercial use since 2023, officials said the vaccination rate was low due to concerns about costs and efficiency. "It is just a supporting tool that can't replace basic prevention measures," Duong said. AVAC Vietnam JSC, the country's main African swine fever vaccine producer, didn't respond to Reuters' request for comment.
The Star
36 minutes ago
- The Star
Opec+ gets lucky as it brings back oil output amid uncertainty
A COUPLE of months ago it would have been a brave call to say that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (Opec+) would be able to bring back 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude production and still keep oil prices anchored around US$70 a barrel. But this is exactly what has occurred, with the eight members of the producer group winding back the last of their 2.2 million bpd of voluntary cuts by September, as well as allowing a separate increase for the United Arab Emirates. The eight Opec+ members met virtually on Sunday, agreeing to lift output by 547,000 bpd for September, adding to the increases of 548,000 bpd for August, 411,000 bpd for each of May, June and July, as well as the 138,000 bpd for April that kickstarted the unwinding of their voluntary cuts. Opec+ stuck to their recent line that the rolling back of production cuts was justified by a strong global economy and low oil inventories. It's debatable as to whether this is actually the case. Certainly, demand growth in the top-importing region of Asia has been lacklustre. Asia's oil imports were about 25 million bpd in July, down from 27.88 million bpd in June and the lowest monthly total since July last year, according to data compiled by LSEG Oil Research. While China, the world's biggest crude importer, has been increasing purchases in recent months, much of this is likely because of lower prices that prevailed when June-and July-arriving cargoes were arranged. It's also the case that China has likely been adding to its stockpiles at a rapid pace, and while it doesn't disclose inventories, the surplus of crude once refinery processing is subtracted from the total available from domestic output and imports was 1.06 million bpd over the first half of 2025. It appears more likely that Opec+ has largely been fortunate in that it has been increasing output at a time of rising risks in the crude oil market, largely from geopolitical tensions. The brief conflict between Israel and Iran in June, which was later joined by the United States, did lead to an equally brief spike in crude prices, with benchmark Brent futures reaching a six-month high of US$81.40 a barrel on June 23. The price has since eased back to trade around the US$70 mark, with some early weakness in Asia on Monday seeing Brent drop to around US$69.35. But the point is that the Israel-Iran conflict arrested a downtrend in oil prices that had been in place for much of the first half of the year. Crude prices have also been supported in recent days by US President Donald Trump's threats of wide-ranging sanctions against buyers of Russian oil unless Moscow agrees to a ceasefire in its war with Ukraine. As with everything Trump, it pays to be cautious as to whether his actions will ultimately be as drastic as his threats. But it would also be foolhardy to assume that there will be no impact on crude supplies even if any eventual measures imposed by the United States are not as drastic as feared. Additionally, there are effectively only two major buyers of Russian crude, India and China. Of these two, India is far more exposed, given its refiners export millions of barrels of refined products, many made with Russian oil. India imported 2.1 million bpd of Russian oil in June, according to data compiled by commodity analysts Kpler, which is the second-highest monthly total behind only 2.15 million bpd in May 2023. In recent months, India has been buying about 40% of its crude from Russia and if it were to replace that with other suppliers, it would have a severe impact on oil flows, at least initially. It's likely that a combination of Middle East, Africa and Americas exporters could make up for India's loss of Russian barrels, but this would tighten supplies considerably and likely keep prices higher. Whether Russia and its network of shadowy traders and shippers could once again work around sanctions remains to be seen, but even if they could, it would still take some time for them to get Russian crude through to buyers. For now, much remains up in the air and Opec+ members are following a smart strategy in taking advantage of the uncertainty to bring their production back and rebuild market share. How long this play can work is the question. Furthermore, even if Russian barrels do leave the market, it's also possible that demand growth disappoints in the second half as the impact of Trump's trade war becomes more apparent, cutting global trade and lowering economic growth. — Reuters Clyde Russell is a columnist for Reuters. The views expressed here are the writer's own.
