THE fifth Penang Signature Gold and Jewellery Fair (PSG), which started with a grand opening at the Setia SPICE Convention Centre on Oct 9, concludes today.
State Tourism and Creative Economy Committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin said the PSG would provide a platform for interstate gold traders to recover and boost domestic economy.
“Since there is travel restriction due to the Covid-19 pandemic, things have shifted towards the domestic economy.
“PSG is the only gold exhibition held in Penang as well as Southeast Asia and it can indeed contribute to the domestic economy in times such as this.
“This exhibition would play a great role in exploring the local gold trading market and be instrumental in creating and maintaining greater trading relationships between locals,” Yeoh said during his speech at the opening ceremony of PSG.
Yeoh said Penang is also known as the land of gold although it does not not have an actual gold mine.
“The gold industry has existed in Penang more than a century ago and the state has been a significant gold exporter to the world.
“Let’s keep maintaining this and make Penang a hub for the gold industry in Malaysia and its region,” Yeoh said while adding that last year, 17 different nations participated in PSG.
Meanwhile, the senior of director of Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) exports promotion and market access division, Abu Bakar Koyakutty said the gold jewellery industry has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The gold jewellery exports for Malaysia this year from January till August 2020 plunged by 60% to reach only RM1.69 billion from RM4.28 billion registered in the same period for 2019.
“However, gold jewellery will never go out of fashion.It has long been associated to lifestyle and has adopted into so many beautiful styles and designs.
“Malaysia’s strength for gold jewelleries lies in its intricate designs with many shapes and patterns, styling classic and elegant of yellow gold colours.
“These specially made and designed jewelleries are the trends sought after by consumers, pushing Malaysia’s brands to stay on the rise in the global markets,” said Abu Bakar.
Abu Bakar added that the sale of gold jewellery is also being impacted by the postponement and cancellation of major events, especially wedding receptions.
He said Matrade has come up with initiatives to help Malaysian exporters during this challenging time.
“For instance, virtual export promotion activities like virtual trade fairs and trade missions are now considered as one of the eligible activities under the Market Development Grant (MDG).
“A total of 671 virtual business meetings have been arranged between 626 Malaysian exporters and 449 foreign buyers so far.
“Moreover, Malaysian exporters of gold jewelleries are kindly invited to participate in MATRADE’s My APEC 2020 virtual exhibition which takes place from Sept 1 until Dec 31.
“This virtual exhibition lines up 240 companies from eight industrial clusters
including lifestyle.
“It is also inconjunction with Malaysia being the host for APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Corporation) Meetings this year.
“I would like to take this opportunity to urge Malaysian companies to register online with
MATRADE atwww.matrade.gov.my for any assistance.”
Story by Tanushalini Moroter
Pix by Adleena Rahayu Ahmad Radzi