MALAYSIA recorded a trade surplus of RM12 bil in January, up 4.2% from RM11.52 bil in January 2019.
“This was the highest monthly trade surplus for January since January 2011, and the 267th consecutive month of surplus,” the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) said in a statement today (March 4).
It said exports totalled RM84.08 bil in January 2020, registering a marginal decrease of 1.5% from RM85.41 bil in January 2019, while imports slipped 2.4% to RM72.08 bil from RM73.89 bil previously.
“Total trade amounted to RM156.17 bil, a contraction of 2% from RM159.3 bil in January 2019,” it added.
On a month-on-month basis, the ministry said, total trade, exports, imports and trade surplus decreased by 2.6%, 2.7%, 2.4% and 4%, respectively.
According to Miti, manufactured exports grew 1.1% to RM71 bil in January 2020, and accounted for 84.4% of the total exports.
“The main contributors to the increase in exports were petroleum products, which increased by 45.8%, iron and steel products (up 43%), rubber products (up 10.7%), followed by machinery, equipment and parts (up 5.7 %),” it said.
Exports of mining goods posted a decline of 20.1% to RM7.15 bil and constituted 8.5% of total exports.
“Lower exports were attributed mainly to the contraction in exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which was led by lower average unit value (AUV) and volume,” it said.
On exports of agriculture goods, it said the value shrank 4.2% to RM5.39 bil and accounted for 6.4% of total exports, mainly due to the decline in exports of sawn timber and mouldings.
However, Miti said exports of palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products recorded a marginal increase of 0.5% to RM3.74 bil (from RM3.72 bil in January 2019).
Other major exports in January 2020 were electrical and electronics (E&E) products valued at RM32.41 bil and constituting 38.6% of total exports. But the E&E export value decreased 5.5% from RM34.28 bil in January 2019, it said.
Miti said exports to Singapore rebounded 0.9% to RM12.27 bil in January 2020, mainly contributed by exports of petroleum products, after posting two consecutive months of contraction.
It said among other major markets in Asean, exports to Indonesia expanded 10.8% to RM2.69 bil due to higher exports of petroleum products while exports to the Philippines went up 7.8% to RM1.48 bil on higher iron and steel products exports.
Miti said exports of manufactured goods to China advanced 5.4% in January 2020, particularly for iron and steel products, metal products as well as optical and scientific equipment.
“Exports of agriculture goods were also higher by 1%, buoyed by the increase in exports of seafood, natural rubber, vegetable oil and saw log,” it said.
However, in January 2020, trade with China, which absorbed 16.9% of Malaysia’s total trade, contracted by 8.7% year-on-year (yoy) to RM26.4 bil, with exports declining 5.7% to RM10.4 bil, while imports from China dropped by 10.6% to RM16 bil.
On trade with the US, Miti said total trade improved 16% yoy to RM15.41 bil and accounted for 9.9% of Malaysia’s total trade.
“This was the 11th consecutive month Malaysia’s trade with the US recorded an expansion, with exports increasing 9.5% to RM8.71 bil underpinned mainly by higher exports of manufactured goods which perked 10.9%,” it said.
The ministry said imports from the US expanded 25.6% to RM6.7 bil, led by higher imports of crude petroleum, transport equipment, manufactures of metal, chemicals and chemical products, as well as metalliferous ores and metal scrap. – March 4, 2020, Bernama
