Investing in manufacturing in Malta

Malta has always had a manufacturing culture. Being an island cut off from the major industrial centres meant that many items had to be manufactured locally.

Although the world has changed substantially regarding manufacturing location with most labour intensive industries moving to the far east and China, the advantages for establishing a manufacturing base in Malta remains very attractive. The island is ideally located in the centre of the Mediterranean sea with very close proximity to the European, Middle Eastern and North African markets.

In the last 20 years the island has shifted its manufacturing focus to high value added manufacturing. The days of large, labour intensive operations, where low labour costs were a key factor for survival, are very much behind us. Having said this, Malta still remains one of the most competitive locations for both manufacturing and service ventures.

A major attraction is, of course, the attractive fiscal incentives. Tax is in itself a cost of production. Hence the lower the tax the more competitive that your product or service can be. This is a factor that many an industrialist often forgets. Malta Enterprise also offers a host of other incentives to investors in target markets such as R & D, Filming, Pharmaceuticals etc. For full coverage of such incentives kindly refer to our article on the subject.

Another advantage which makes Malta unique as a manufacturing hub is its proximity to the lucrative European markets which, when coupled with the speedy air and sea connections to these same markets, make exports a speedy and expeditious process. Malta’s Freeport, the largest in the Mediterranean, is an important and crucial hub in the commercial wheel and hugely facilitates the import and export process. With daily sailings to all parts of the globe, no customer is ever out of reach from Malta.

Although Malta is an island with a renowned reputation for its beauty and cultural treasures, some of which are even World Heritage Sites, its excellent educational infrastructure ensures the continuous supply of highly skilled workers especially in science and engineering fields. Malta today boasts a specialist educational institution focused on aircraft engineering and maintenance. The country also boasts of state of the art broadband internet connectivity and mobile infrastructure through large investments by the major telecommunication companies.

To sum up, Malta is an ideal location for investment at the high end of the manufacturing spector. The combination of fiscal incentives, a pool of highly skilled and talented workers, excellent links to commercial centres and state of the art communications technology makes it a winner for the discerning investor.

Although Malta does not have enough space to accommodate large scale manufacturing concerns, it more than makes up for this handicap with the many advantages listed above. The many international brands that have relocated all or part of their operations to Malta is testimony to this statement.

In Malta you will be working where others come to play.

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