Malaysia, with its young and growing population of over 30 million, is one of the largest economies in South-East Asia. In 2024, the country had a GDP of £350 billion and an economic growth rate of 4.8%.
We would like to invite you to the next webinar in our Global Trade Series on Tuesday 4 March, where DHL Express, in collaboration with the Department for Business and Trade, will highlight Malaysia as a promising trade lane and support you to go further with international trade.
UK trade with Malaysia is on the rise. In the four quarters to the end of Q2 of 2024, UK exports to Malaysia increased by £48 million compared to the same period in 2023, reaching a total of £3.4 billion.
Malaysia is strategically located as a gateway to ASEAN, and the broader Asia-Pacific region. Its strong manufacturing capacity, multilingual workforce, and attractive direct investment environment, supported by the government’s digitalisation agenda, provides numerous opportunities for UK exporters.
The UK’s Free Trade Agreement with Malaysia
In December 2024, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) entered into force between the UK and the nine CPTPP Parties that ratified the UK’s accession. The CPTPP is a free trade agreement (FTA) between 12 economically diverse countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and now the UK. With a combined GDP of over £12 trillion and more countries set to join, the CPTPP presents UK businesses with commercial opportunities that can contribute to their growth, as well as the economic growth of the UK.
In this upcoming webinar, find out how the CPTPP, as the first FTA between the UK and Malaysia, presents enhanced trading opportunities and improved market access for UK businesses exporting to Malaysia.
What does CPTPP mean for your business?
Reducing Costs
In the four quarters to the end of Q2 of 2024, the UK exported £1.7 billion worth of goods to Malaysia. With CPTPP, over 99% of UK exports are eligible for tariff-free trade to Malaysia, significantly enhancing UK businesses competitiveness by directly reducing costs.
Optimising Supply Chains
Under CPTPP, companies can cumulate inputs from the 12 CPTPP markets to count towards “originating” materials, to then sell into a CPTPP market, subject to meeting the relevant rules of origin requirements. This particularly benefits industries with complex supply chains, notably the manufacturing industry.
Ease of Doing Business
While reduced costs from removing tariffs increases competitiveness in-market, CPTPP goes beyond that to ease processes, further reducing costs and time. Examples include guaranteeing advanced rulings, committing to simplifying customs processes, and accepting trade administration documents in electronic form.
Below you can register for access to the webinar to find out how you can capitalise on trade with Malaysia, and gain practical exporting advice from our expert panel.
Watch our previous webinars!
At DHL Express, we’re ambitious for your business. We believe that the government’s series of trade agreements is an opportunity to energise the UK’s trading power and reach fresh markets around the world. Through a series of webinars and summary guides we want to help your business make the most of these international opportunities.
You can find these here!
