From April 24 to May 3, 2006, the
U.S. Department of Commerce
facilitated an environmental trade
mission to Southeast Asia. The
mission visited Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia; Bangkok, Thailand; and
Manila, Philippines. The mission
was led by Joe O. Neuhoff III, U.S.
Department of Commerce director
for energy and environmental
industries. It featured U.S. envi-
ronmental companies offering a
wide variety of environmental
product and service solutions.
The mission was implemented to
help U.S. environmental firms
become more active in one of the
most promising regional markets
for their technologies. In Malaysia,
the market for environmental tech-
nologies was estimated to be more
than $1.5 billion in 2005. An esti-
mated 80 percent of this market is
served by imports. The United
States enjoys the second-largest
share of the environmental import
market in Malaysia at an estimated
25 percent. The growth rate of U.S.
exports has been approximately 9
percent from 2002 to 2005, outpac-
ing the rate of overall market
growth, which has been around 5
percent during that time.
In Thailand, the environmental
market was estimated at more than
$1.35 billion in 2005. Though esti-
mates place the U.S. competitive
position behind that of Japan and
various European Union competi-
tors, U.S. environmental goods
exports to Thailand increased by
approximately 93 percent from
2002 to 2005.
Southeast Asia Environmental Trade Mission
by Marc Lemmond
continued on page 3
Mr. Shamsudin Latif, deputy director general, Department of Environment, Malaysia (cen-
ter right, tan jacket) meets with U.S. Department of Commerce Director for Energy and
Environmental Industries Joe Neuhoff (immediately right of Mr. Latif, red tie), other
Commerce Department officials, and trade mission participants.
Energy and Environmental Export
News is a publication of the Office of
Energy and Environmental Industries
(OEEI) of the International Trade
Administration (ITA), produced with
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