AGRIBUSINESS: A NEW PERSPECTIVE

We look at the agricultural sector in a new light; one that is no longer confines to primary production of raw commodities, but as a business quotient that extends beyond into processing, further processing and a spectrum of other services. Brunei Darussalam recognises the importance of primary production to meet the needs for national food security and other social responsibilities, but is also aware of its limitation due to a lack in comparative advantage.

As such, there is a need to develop agribusiness, which has a relative strength in the secondary industry of processing and further processing of value-added products and eyeing selectively for the regional and international markets.

Brunei Darussalam has abundant supply of relatively cheap fuel to power industrial development. In addition, the Government is supportive towards investments on industrial development including food processing . In this regard, there is potential for investors to establish their manufacturing bases in Brunei Darussalam and source the raw commodities in the region.

In this way, investors could exploit the footage offered by Brunei Darussalam to produce value-added food products and have access to the vast consumer markets of ASEAN with a combined population of over 500 million strong.