Plastic Industry In Malaysia

9 Pages 2321 Words

also in terms of prices which pressured many manufacturers into selling products at the expense of quality. If there were to be improvements in the industry in the near future, there is only one direction for in which it can go, which is to aim at higher technological products.
The plastics industry has become one of the important manufacturing industries in Malaysia. With the current problems facing the industry, it is important that steps are taken to ensure that the industry will not reach saturation in the near future. The future and success of this industry depends very mush on the cooperation of manufacturers and the Malaysian government.



1.1) Trade liberalization
It is important for an industry to sustain its market in order to stay competitive. This is why there is the existence of the trade liberalization. Trade liberalization is the process of reduction or elimination of tariffs and other trade barriers in the industry. Because Malaysia is a member of Asian, it is therefore bound as agreed in the Sixth ASEAN Summit to implement Asian Free Trade Area (AFTA) into its economy. The country is at various stages of preparation to its industries to implement trade liberalization to reduce tax to 0-5% with target dates 2005.
The slow progress in the trade liberalization by ASEAN was one of the reasons for ASEAN countries to establish a free trade area among AEAN countries. AFTA is a free trade area, which means that countries maintain individual tariff regimes towards non-member countries-contrary to the idea of a customs union where members apply a common external tariff. The implementation of AFTA from the original target year of 2008 has been brought forward to 2003, which proofs the seriousness of ASEAN to achieve a free trade area in the region. Through these measures taken by ASEAN, it will benefit the trade liberalization of the economy. It is also an important way to show the outside world that ASEAN is not slow...