LANGKAWI: The Malaysian aerospace industry recorded RM14.4 billion in revenue last year.
The manufacturing sub-segment remaining the major contributor with 48 per cent, followed by the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) segment at 46 per cent.
International Trade and Industry Minister Darell Leiking said the aerospace industry had shown growth since the implementation of the Malaysia Aerospace Blueprint 2030 in 2015.
He said, with this positive growth trend, Malaysia would become one of the the leading aerospace nations by 2030, when the industry was targeted to generate an annual revenue of US$4.3 billion (RM55.2 billion).
“The aerospace manufacturing sub-sector remains the main contributor to the industry and recorded the highest value of RM6.97 billion, an increase of 8.3 per cent, compared with 2017,” he said at the Aerospace and Shipbuilding and Ship Repair (SBSR) Industries Performance 2018 on the sidelines of the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace exhibition 2019.
“The MRO sector recorded RM6.68 billion representing 46 per cent of total revenue.”
Malaysia’s exports of aircraft parts and components rose from RM2.88 billion in 2014 to RM8.48 billion last year, mainly due to the expansion of aerospace manufacturing activities.
Approved investments in the aerospace industry last year was RM816.3 million — RM478 million or 59 per cent from domestic and RM338 million from foreign investments.
For SBSR, the industry revenue is also showing positive momentum, with estimated revenue last year totalling RM7 billion.
The MRO segment recorded higher revenue compared with the shipbuilding segment, due to the high volume of seaborne trade in Malaysia that resulted in a large number of ships requiring repairs, high value government vessel refit programme and conversion vessel projects by a few shipyards in Malaysia.
The country exported ships, boats (including hovercrafts) and floating structures worth a total of RM1.29 billion last year, an increase of 20 per cent compared with 2017.
To a question on expected performance next year, Darell said “anything above RM15 billion would be record-breaking for us”.
Meanwhile, SME Corp said in a statement that the introduction of the Developing SMEs in the Global Aerospace Manufacturing Industry Programme under the Entrepreneur Development Ministry had seen the development of 20 small and medium enterprises in the aerospace industry with RM55.75 million in sales.
The programme, implemented by SME Corp since 2016, targets a total of 50 SMEs to be developed by next year.
“The programme has also improved the participating SMEs’ competencies in operational readiness as well as business and financial capabilities.
“In addition, (they) have also enhanced their human capital development, with the hiring of local high-skilled workers such as engineers, technicians and machinists,” the statement said.
The programme is aimed at improving the capabilities of the SMEs to the point that they can eventually be integrated into the global aerospace supply chain, thus boosting the economy.