Malaysia's Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (FAMA) is aiming to increase the country's tropical fruit exports from M$198m (US$62.83m) to M$210m (US$66.63m) this year, The Star reported.
Fruits such as starfruit, dragon fruit, pineapple, rambutan, durian, pomelo, papaya, mango, mangosteen, jackfruit and guava have been identified as products with great export potential.
Known as ‘exotic' fruits in much of the world, they have a market worth over US$10bn annually, with Europe the largest consumer at around half the tropical fruit market.
However, Malaysia is still lagging behind in tropical fruit exports compared to its neighbours such as Thailand and Vietnam, where production costs are lower.
Kenneth Wee, of Malaysian consultancy firm Total Agri Marketing, believes more promotion and recognition of Malaysian certification standards SALM and Malaysia's Best would help the country's fruit exports really take off.
'Export promotions are handled by the Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (FAMA). A fair few of the export promotions have been arranged for trade shows or trade-related programmes,' Mr Wee told Fruitnet.com earlier this year.
'However, there needs to be some level of consumer awareness, especially for Malaysia's Best fruits, which are of export quality and most suitable for international marketing and promotions.
'In order to achieve this, fruit quality and its inspection are critical, as that will determine the success of the export expansions.
'Proactively, Malaysia has established SALM and Malaysia's Best, which are good certifications. However, the practice has to be more stringent and complied with and the certifications have to be heavily promoted to create awareness with good and relevant advertising and promotional avenues.'
