Mida reaching out to more Russian investors
13 Feb 2018
Malaysia views Russia – the biggest country in the world – as a potential investor to cater to regional customers.
Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) chief executive officer Datuk Azman Mahmud said Mida would make more effort to reach out to potential Russian investors.
He said there were several Russian companies which had already invested in the country in the food, transportation and machinery-based sectors.
“However, the number of Russian investors in the country is still small and we want to see more investors, especially those involved in technology-based activities,” said Azman.
He said Russian manufacturers could use Malaysia’s strategic location along the world’s busiest shipping lane to penetrate markets in the Asia-Pacific region.
Azman was speaking to reporters during the ground-breaking ceremony of Norman Process Oils Malaysia Plant Sdn Bhd’s RM240mil plant at the Tanjung Langsat industrial area in Pasir Gudang.
Norman Process Oils is the subsidiary of Russia’s Nizhny Novgorodbased Orgkhim Biochemical Holding, the second-largest producer of safe petroleum-based extender oils for “green” tyre production.
“The RM240mil investment by Orgkhim Biochemical is so far the single largest of investments by a Russian company in Malaysia,” he said.
Also present were Johor Tourism, Trade and Consumerism committee chairman Datuk Tee Siew Kiong and Orgkhim Chemical CEO Nikolay Khodov.
Khodov said the Johor plant, the company’s first outside Russia, would be up and running within the next 15 months to produce petroleum-based extender oils used in tyres and synthetic rubbers.
The plant would be able to produce about 70,000 tonnes of extender oils yearly to cater for the China, Malaysia and Singapore markets which currently comes from the Russian plant.
Source: The Star
