Published: Tuesday July 28, 2009 MYT 2:50:00 PM
Frozen food processors want Najib to intervene
By DERRICK VINESH
BUTTERWORTH: Fed up with what it claims is the Health Ministry dragging its feet to audit 37 remaining seafood companies to resume exports to the European Union, the Malaysian Frozen Foods Processors Association (MFFPA) is seeking Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s intervention.
MFFPA chairman Ch’ng Chin Hooi said that following the lifting of the EU suspension on Malaysian seafood in May, the ministry had so far allowed only six of the 42 seafood-processing companies to resume business with Europe.
“While a few companies are trying hard to penetrate other markets in the Middle East, South Africa, United States and Australia, many have temporarily stopped operations because of the delay.
“We hope the Prime Minister can help shed some light on our plight as it has been more than a year since the Malaysian seafood industry was self-banned from exporting to the EU,” he told a press conference at the FMM northern branch office here Tuesday.
Ch’ng said several thousand workers downstream had lost their jobs after some of the companies stopped operations.
He stressed that the problem was not self-inflicted by the seafood industry but was due to deficiencies not rectified by the authorities in meeting EU’s Food and Veterinary (FVO) inspection in March 2008 despite being warned in 2005.
Ch’ng also said that MFFPA members were disappointed when they recently learnt that a rescue package from the Federal Government was not a soft loan but an ordinary loan similar to the one offered by commercial banks.
He said the Agro Bank informed the association in the October last year that the Ministry of Finance would grant members a RM500mil soft loan.
“The soft loan amount, up to four times the companies paid up capital, was supposed to have flexible conditions.
“Agro Bank was to hold the stock debenture while the companies directors were to stand as guarantors,” he said.
MFFPA treasurer Jack C.K. Ng said his company, Hong San Frozen Foods, was stranded for 15 months as all of his exports were to the EU.
“I have been finding it hard to make ends meet following the delays in the Health Ministry’s auditing as well as the disbursement of the Government’s rescue package,” he added.
He said the Malaysian frozen foods industry, valued at about RM2bil a year, was the country’s second largest food exporter.
France, Britain, Belgium, Italy and Spain are among the top 10 customers of Malaysian seafood companies.
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