Malaysia, Indonesia continue to head growth in consumer tech markets

• Biggest growth seen in telco market in Malaysia
• IT sector records positive growth across all markets

MALAYSIA and Indonesia were the two key growth markets across South-East Asia, registering strong first quarter growth in the Technical Consumer Goods (TCG) market, says market research firm GfK.

Malaysia and Indonesia reported 32% and 15% value growth respectively over the same period last year, it says in a statement.

TCG includes consumer electronics (TV, camcorder, audio home system); small and large domestic appliances, digital cameras and IT equipment and others.

Malaysia’s excellent showing in the first three months of this year was driven largely by its Telecommunications, Office, Major Domestic Appliances (MDA) and Information Technology sectors which all expanded in values of between 24% and 62%.

In Indonesia, it was the IT, Consumer Electronic and MDA sectors that showed substantial increase in revenue sales of 18% to 31%.

“The Malaysian Technical Consumer Goods market had a good start to the year, raking in a total value of RM5.3 billion (US$1.7 billion),” says Stanley Kee, managing director of GfK for South-East Asia.

“Five of the seven sectors managed double-digit increases to maintain the country’s position at the top of the quarterly growth leaderboard in the region,” he adds. “The second-fastest growing market, Indonesia, also managed to retain its ranking from the last quarter.”

While the IT sector, which turned in consistent positive results ranging from 4% to 33% value growth across all the countries, it was Telco which saw growth rates soaring as high as 50% and 62%, as posted by the Singaporean and Malaysian markets.

Office Equipment and Consumables in Malaysia also reported an impressive 54% sales value increment, says GfK.

“The Telco and IT sectors are expected to be the two star performers in the TCG market moving forward, thanks to the growing popularity of tech gadgets such as smartphones and tablets which are generally seeing rapidly increasing adoption rate in this region,” says Kee.

“The mounting consumer demand for these devices will continue to play a major role in driving the performance of the TCG in the emerging markets of South-East Asia,” he adds.