Malaysia's August trade surges 43pct, logs 76th straight surplus

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's total trade surged 43.4 per cent year-on-year to RM354 billion in August, driven by strong growth in both exports and imports, according to the Statistics Department.

In a statement today, the department said exports jumped 45.5 per cent to RM191 billion, while imports rose 41.1 per cent to RM163 billion.

The trade surplus widened 77.1 per cent to RM28.1 billion, marking the 76th consecutive month of surplus since May 2020.

Export growth was led by electrical and electronic (E&E) products, which increased by RM36.9 billion.

This was followed by other manufactures, up RM13.7 billion, liquefied natural gas (RM2.1 billion), petroleum products (RM2 billion), machinery, equipment and parts (RM1.9 billion) and manufactures of metal (RM1.7 billion).

The US recorded the largest increase in exports at RM21.2 billion, followed by Singapore (RM11.3 billion), Taiwan (RM7.2 billion), Hong Kong (RM5.3 billion), China (RM3.4 billion), Japan (RM3 billion) and the European Union (RM2.3 billion).

Domestic exports, which accounted for 79 per cent of total exports, increased 46 per cent to RM151 billion, while re-exports rose 43.3 per cent to RM40.1 billion.

On the import side, E&E products recorded the largest increase at RM38.3 billion, followed by crude petroleum (RM3.1 billion), petroleum products (RM2.2 billion), machinery, equipment and parts (RM2.2 billion), manufactures of metal (RM1.2 billion) and optical and scientific equipment (RM1.1 billion).

China recorded the largest increase in imports at RM16.9 billion, followed by Taiwan (RM8.8 billion), Singapore (RM7 billion), South Korea (RM5.9 billion), Vietnam (RM1.8 billion), Japan (RM1.1 billion) and the United Arab Emirates (RM1.1 billion).

By end-use, imports of intermediate goods, which accounted for 55.6 per cent of total imports, rose 50.5 per cent, or RM30.4 billion, to RM90.7 billion.

Capital goods imports increased 37.4 per cent, or RM5.9 billion, to RM21.6 billion, while imports of consumption goods fell 1.6 per cent, or RM153.6 million, to RM9.3 billion.

On a month-on-month basis, exports fell 1.3 per cent, imports declined 4.7 per cent and total trade slipped 2.9 per cent from July. The trade surplus, however, increased 24.7 per cent, or RM5.6 billion.

For the January-August period, total trade rose 27 per cent to RM2.5 trillion from RM2 trillion in the same period last year.

Exports increased 31.2 per cent, while imports grew 22.4 per cent, lifting the trade surplus 127.6 per cent to RM198.7 billion.

The department said trade performance in the first eight months remained resilient, supported mainly by E&E products and stronger trade with major trading partners.