Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (May 18): A gold and jewellery cluster to serve as a major finishing hub, a first in Malaysia, will be set up in 2019 in the Batu Kawan Industrial Park on mainland Penang with a combined investment of RM49.6 million by five private entities.

In a statement today, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the state plays a major role as a producer of gold jewellery for export markets, contributing RM6.1 billion or 85% of Malaysia's total exports of RM7.2 billion in 2016.

Penang companies have been exporting precious metal jewellery to more than 20 countries such as Japan, US, Germany, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines and Singapore.

"The Penang Goldsmith Association is one of the oldest trade/industry association in Penang, having been established in 1832. It has the strength of more than 400 companies, mostly local companies, in the gold and jewellery industry.

"We hope the entry of these five companies into Batu Kawan would strengthen Penang's position as a major gold finishing hub, create higher value jobs and income opportunities for the craftsmen and downstream stakeholders in this industry," he said.

The cluster would create about 730 jobs including high-value goldsmith and jeweller jobs, in addition to the 8,000 skilled talents in the industry.

Construction for the cluster on a 1.7ha land is expected to commence by the second half of this year or the first half of 2018 and to be completed in a year, he added.

"Gold which is considered safe haven and an instrument of value hedging will continue to provide the competitive edge for these companies which have had long experience and established reputation in this industry.

"This industry is also moving from mainly traditional craftmanship to modern hi-tech design and manufacturing facilities. This would be synergised with the automation and software technology in Penang," Lim said.

 

 

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