Total trade in February reaches RM134.83 bln, exports remain higher at RM71.77 bln
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s total trade in February 2017 expanded by 27.1 per cent, reaching RM134.83 billion compared to the same month of last year, with exports increasing by 26.5 per cent to RM71.77 billion.
It is the fourth consecutive month of exports exceeding RM70 billion since November 2016, and higher than the monthly average of RM64 billion recorded in the first ten months of 2016, said the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) in announcing the country’s external trade statistics.
The trade surplus stood at RM8.71 billion.
It was the 232nd consecutive month of a trade surplus since November 1997.
Imports in February 2017 grew by 27.7 per cent to RM63.06 billion.
Total trade for the first two months of 2017 surged by 20.6 per cent to RM270.63 billion, compared with RM224.4 billion in the same period of 2016.
Exports rose 19.8 per cent to RM142.04 billion and imports by 21.5 per cent to RM128.59 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of RM13.45 billion.
In February, expansion in trade was seen with all major trading partners, namely Asean, China, India, Japan, Taiwan, the European Union (EU) and the United States (US).
“In February 2017, double-digit exports growth was registered for all major sectors, namely manufacturing, mining, and agriculture goods,” Miti said.
Export of manufactured goods grew by 24.3 per cent to RM57.45 billion compared with a year ago, accounting for 80 per cent share of total exports.
For mining goods, it increased by 21.6 per cent to RM6.83 billion, while the export of agriculture goods surged by 50.7 per cent to RM6.78 billion, led by palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products.
Trade with Asean in February 2017 grew by 36.1 per cent to RM39.03 billion from a year ago.
Exports expanded by 34 per cent to RM21.55 billion, contributed mainly by a significant growth in exports of manufactured goods.
Among others, trade with China in February 2017 increased by 28.9 per cent to RM19.79 billion, contributing a 14.7 per cent share to Malaysia’s total trade.
Trade with the EU amounted to RM12.7 billion, a growth of 11.2 per cent and with Japan increased by 17.3 per cent to RM11.84 billion, with exports registering doubledigit growth for two consecutive months after posting a continuous year-on-year decline since July 2016.
Miti said there was double-digit expansion in exports to some Free Trade Agreement partners, namely India, which grew by 32.2 per cent to RM2.77 billion, Turkey (82.1 per cent to RM830.9 million), New Zealand (56 per cent to RM344.6 million) and Pakistan (47.4 per cent to RM312.7 million).
In February 2017, the three main categories of imports by end use were intermediate goods valued at RM38.48 billion or a 61 per cent share of total imports.
It increased by 39.9 per cent, due mainly to higher imports of coal.
The others were capital goods ( RM7.29 billion, 11.6 per cent share, higher by 5.6 per cent) and due mainly to higher imports of air or gas compressors, hoods, and consumption goods (RM4.57 billion, 7.3 per cent share, down 0.6 per cent), with lower imports of food products. — Bernama