Companies looking to export to Malaysia need to investigate the regulatory environment. While Malaysia is gradually liberalising its tariff regime, some products are still protected by high tariff and import licensing provisions.
The Malaysian Industrial Development Authority’s website provides a good overview on Malaysia including information on incentives for investments, taxation, immigration procedures, manpower for industry, banking, finance and exchange control, intellectual property protection, environment management and infrastructure support.
Link in with the local New Zealand Malaysia Chamber of Commerce or meet with New Zealand companies and New Zealand representatives based in Malaysia to get their thoughts and learn from their experiences on doing business in Malaysia.
The use of emails, skype and tele-conferencing is gaining popularity but often things don’t move until you are physically in the market. Therefore you need to be prepared to visit the market four to six times a year to get your business underway. It is very difficult to do this from New Zealand, which is even more of a reason to appoint a local partner.
Some useful websites
Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA)
Ministry of International Trade and Industry
Department of Statistics Malaysia
Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers
Malaysia National News Agency
The Royal Malaysian Customs Department
Get general advice on how to identify and research your target market in the Export guide.
