00:01From tropical fruits to seafood exports, Malaysia's agricultural industry has long been a pillar of its economy.
00:09And now, a new gateway is opening at the Hainan Free Trade Port in China,
00:14offering a wealth of opportunities for Malaysia's producers and exporters.
00:28Hainan is positioning itself as a hub of tropical agriculture and imported foods.
00:34Policies encourage the importation, processing and re-export of agricultural products.
00:39For Malaysian businesses, this creates a soft landing to enter China with fewer market herders.
00:46One of the most promising commodities to gain from the Hainan Free Trade Port is Malaysia's durian.
00:53Yeah, actually this is the most hottest topic everybody is talking about,
00:57where China is currently using Hainan as one of the free trade zones to attract a lot of investors
01:03to actually have their first startups or first destinations enter because of the free trade facilities.
01:10So one thing about Hainan Free Trade Port, we can eventually enter into China,
01:15the first port of entry without flocking out the initial funding.
01:19And also that we can actually, you know, understand the whole infrastructure,
01:23how we can actually, from this first port, that we can go into China.
01:28On the first day of island-wide customs operations at the Hainan Free Trade Port,
01:331.5 tonnes of Malaysian durians cleared customs in under two hours.
01:39This is a clear example of the efficiency and convenience this port offers.
01:44And for the first time, in January this year, fresh Musang King from Malaysia reached China by sea.
01:51I'm actually considering to en route my first port of entry to Hainan to enjoy the facility first.
01:57From there itself, maybe I will partner with my new partners that who can actually do the on-ground activations.
02:03And from there itself, we can maybe think of actually doing secondary processing
02:08where we can bring in our goods in bulk and perhaps start up the factory or the production there
02:14where this will definitely help us in terms of putting our pricing to make things more affordable.
02:20So the cost, eventually I can see there's a significant savings.
02:24Most entrepreneurs are struggling entering into China with a lot of difficulty,
02:29especially when it comes to G2G, clearance and all those things.
02:31I think the China government is giving a very good platform for the first-timer
02:37or people who really wish to go into China to have this as the first port of entry.
02:41The Hainan Free Trade Port could be a game-changer for the seafood industry too.
02:46As one Malaysian company has discovered,
02:49collaboration extends far beyond simply selling to Chinese consumers.
02:53We are a farming and seafood supply chain company that we're already in this line for 25 years.
03:01Eventually, I also have a company in Hansanya.
03:03I think I sell it two years ago.
03:05We don't sell there, but we buy.
03:07We buy calabia fillet.
03:08We buy fingerlings, especially the silver pumpano fingerlings from Hainan.
03:13Because of weather, northern area of China, farming is also very limited
03:18because during winter, they have challenged cost to build an indoor hub,
03:24also very expensive.
03:25And the growth, they need more, longer time to grow.
03:29We have a very good environment of farming in Malaysia all year round.
03:3326-28 degrees of water, 33-37 degrees of weather, very good.
03:38Like we have a good baramundi, syaka, we have plants.
03:41Malaysia can be a backyard because Hainan,
03:43they still have a challenge of natural disaster.
03:46You see the typhoon coming in more often and often.
03:50Don't put all eggs in one basket.
03:52This is the worst I talk to my friends in Lingshui.
03:56They do brew stock.
03:58Then why not you put some technology here?
04:01We can win-win.
04:02We can help.
04:03Some can grow faster here.
04:05Why not we do it here?
04:07Success in Hainan requires a clear strategy.
04:10From identifying high demand products and understanding local regulations
04:15to forming partnerships with local distributors and logistics providers.
04:21Their culture will be different.
04:23You must understand whether they are consumption, data,
04:29what kind of product they like.
04:30That is where we face difficulty.
04:33But going to Hainan is probably a pilot place for them to test pay.
04:37This is number one.
04:38Of course, number two is that going to a new place,
04:40you need to understand a lot of local authority issues.
04:43And of course, more importantly is we don't know the market potential.
04:47SME may not know the market potential because you spend money to do
04:50market potential study, whatever is very expensive.
04:53And most SME do not have big capital to do that.
04:57Malaysia can leverage the Hainan Free Trade Port to strengthen its food security
05:01and reduce reliance on imports.
05:04One of the two most important areas is collaboration with China
05:09in solving our food security problem.
05:12Now, I'm looking at Hainan is not just a free trade zone
05:17offering incentive or tariff advantages.
05:20It's also emerging as an important regional platform for logistics,
05:25for food processing, technological transfer, investment,
05:28and an integrated supply chain development
05:32and a broader framework within the framework of ASEAN.
05:35For Malaysia, this opens up practical opportunities.
05:40One of the opportunities is exactly we can build shorter supply chains.
05:46Instead of taking from South America, we can now take it from China.
05:50Malaysia now has opportunity not merely to streamline
05:53or strengthen domestic food production,
05:56but also to reposition our agro-food sector as a new engine of growth,
06:01a new engine of entrepreneurship, technology, innovation, and youth participation.
06:07At the same time, new export opportunities could also emerge for Malaysia.
06:12Malaysia can expand exports, as I said just now, tropical fruits,
06:17and process agro-foods into the vast Chinese market
06:21through Hainan's getaway position.
06:23At the same time, Malaysia can position itself as a halal processing hub.
06:28Now, the rest of the Muslim world, we have 2 billion people there
06:31and distributing the meat or this halal food to the ASEAN,
06:36especially to the Middle East, back to China,
06:38and also to the rest of the Muslim world.
06:41So, if we increase our halal food production, we can also expand our food productions.
06:46In this sense, Hainan should not be viewed just simply as a port or a trading zone.
06:52It becomes a larger part of a regional ecosystem, food ecosystem,
06:57where trade, technology, investment, food security, logistic, and human development
07:02can be developed for long-term resilience and a shared prosperity.
07:08The Hainan Free Trade Port is more than a trade policy.
07:12It is a bridge connecting Malaysia's agricultural excellence to China and beyond.
07:17For the aquaculture and agriculture sectors,
07:20new pathways for growth and collaboration are opening up.
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