KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 1): Only 25% of Malaysian companies view the US-China trade dispute as a hindrance to business, with the rest remaining resilient and opportunistic, according to a new HSBC survey.

In fact nearly half (48%) deemed the ongoing trade dispute as a business opportunity given the potential to see a shift in regional supply chain patterns.

The annual survey, conducted by Kantar TNS for HSBC between August and September, covers 8,650 companies across 34 countries including 200 Malaysian firms, to gauge business sentiment and expectations on trade.

Reflecting on the trade and policy environment in Asia, Malaysian companies are also optimistic that regional policy initiatives will help their businesses.

Specifically, Malaysian companies cite Asean (74%), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) (65%) and the Asean 2025 initiative (63%) as favourable policy initiatives.

Free trade agreements were also viewed positively by the majority (64%) of Malaysian businesses, the survey showed.

While the new government is undertaking a major review of Chinese infrastructure projects, around 62% of Malaysian companies believe that China's Belt and Road Initiative will be positive for business.

HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd chief executive officer Stuart Milne said although Malaysia's market openness can create trade and economic vulnerabilities from the ongoing US-China trade dispute, firms generally believe that the current environment can present opportunities to capture market share.

"Trade war benefits nobody. Ultimately it would drag down global growth. At HSBC we are concerned about that. We would like to see free and open trade between countries.

"But there is opportunity in adversity. Talking to clients in China, both multinationals based there and local companies, it is clear that they are looking at diversifying their manufacturing risk so they would look at countries like Malaysia for high value manufacturing. But it's not an easy thing to do to move your supply chain so it would take some time see the change," said Milne.

Moving forward, he said businesses are expected to use technology, digitalization and data utilization to play an increasingly strategic role in enabling them to develop their products and services and improve operational efficiency.