KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia expects another RM559 million in investments from Japanese companies this year.
International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said the investments in the pipeline are sourced from 10 companies.
They are mostly in machinery, electronics and chemical industries.
This is likely to lift the total amount of Japanese investments in 2017 to RM1 billion and hope to close these deals by year-end, Mustapa said.
"There has been a strong flow of investments from the Japanese in a cross section of sectors - manufacturing, finance and infrastructure," he said, at a media briefing after the official launch of the Malaysia Nikkei Business Forum 2017 by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak earlier.
Najib also said Malaysia received substantial investment from Japan this year.
In the first half of 2017, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) approved a total of 16 manufacturing projects with Japanese participation worth RM559 million.
Seventy five per cent of these investments are for expansion and diversification projects by Japanese companies already operating in the country.
Konica Minolta is an exemplary investor which has chosen Malaysia for its latest state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Melaka for advanced copier machines, production printers and parts.
It is Malaysia's first digitally-focused manufacturing cluster.