KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s exports for May 2017 exceeded forecasts, growing by 32.5% to RM79.4bil against analyst expectations of a 23.4% growth.

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry said on Friday that the growth was supported mainly by increased exports of electrical and electronic (E&E) products and petroleum products, chemicals and chemical products, and palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products.

Trade with Asean countries increased by 34.1% to RM42.2bil in May 2017 and accounted for 27.5% of the country’s total trade, as trade with Singapore grew by a significant 45% to RM12.32bil.

Malaysia’s total trade for the month registered a value of RM153.3bil and grew by 31.5% against RM116.6bil recorded a year ago. 

Exports grew by 32.5% to RM79.4bil while imports increased by 30.4% to RM73.91bil, resulting in a trade surplus of RM5.49bil. 

On a month-on-month basis, total trade, exports and imports expanded by 10.2%, 7.5% and 13.3% respectively.

For the period between January and May 2017, total trade grew by 25.4% to RM722.89bil and exports increased by 23.3% to RM377.96bil while imports rose by 27.7% to RM344.93bil, resulting in a trade surplus of RM33.03bil.

Exports of manufactured goods in May 2017 grew by 32.7% to RM66.61bil on-year, on increased exports of electrical and electronic (E&E) products, petroleum products, chemicals and chemical products, rubber products, iron and steel products, machinery, equipment and parts as well as manufactures of metal.

Exports of agriculture goods rose 25.4% to RM6.95bil, underpinned by higher exports of palm oil, while exports of mining goods climbed 32% to RM5.07bil, spurred by higher exports of crude petroleum.

Expansion in trade was seen with almost all trading partners particularly Asean, China, the US, the EU, India, Taiwan and Australia.

Trade with China increased by 32.3% to RM25.21bil, accounting for 16.4% of total trade, while trade with the EU remained robust, recording a growth of 14.9% to RM15.15bil, making up 9.9% of Malaysia’s total trade. 

 

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