Business

Wednesday July 29, 2009

Frozen food processors demand RM500mil loan


BUTTERWORTH: The Malaysian Frozen Foods Processors Association yesterday urged the government to quickly disburse the RM500mil soft loan promised to the seafood and frozen food industry players.

Chairman Ch’ng Chin Hooi said the government announced the relief package following the export ban on such products to the European Union (EU) 14 months ago but no industry players had benefited from it.

The association was told that the Finance Ministry had allocated RM160mil to Agrobank for that purpose but the status had changed to an ordinary loan, he told reporters here.

Several meetings had been held with the relevant minister and officers and the bank yet their applications were still at the processing stage, he said.

“How long should we wait for our company operations to be restored?

“So far, several companies have wound up and some have cut production for not having enough capital and most stocks for exports to EU cannot be sold because it was said to have failed to meet the required standards,” he said.

Ch’ng said almost 15,000 workers in the industry had lost their jobs when their employers could not cover their cost of operations.

He said that only six of the 43 industry players had been allowed to export their products to EU after going through the audit process conducted by the Health Department, Fisheries Department and Fisheries Development Authority.

The industry could generate RM2bil income annually and 70% of it from 28 EU countries, he said. – Bernama

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