Ong: M’sia’s total trade last year can reach RM1.7 trillion

IPOH: Malaysia’s total trade last year as at November has hit RM1.62 trillion, says International Trade and Industry Minister II Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan.

He said the total exports over the 11 months last year was about RM856bil and RM776bil worth of total imports.

“I think we can reach over RM1.7 trillion if we are to include last month’s trade. The figures are not out yet,” he said after witnessing the swearing-in of the Federation of Chin Woo Association Malaysia here yesterday.

Ong said China remained as Malaysia’s top trading partner, importing over RM114bil of goods from Malaysia.

“We import from them about RM150bil worth of goods,” he added.

“Other top export markets for Malaysia include the European market, with about RM87bil, United States ( RM82bil) and Japan (RM68bil).”

He said the top five export goods from Malaysia were electrical and electronic products (RM314bil), petroleum products (RM66bil), chemical products (RM62bil), palm oil products (RM50bil) and machinery (RM37bil).

On a separate matter, Ong said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s style of leadership no longer suits the current Malaysian society.

“Dr Mahathir can be brilliant but his leadership is not suitable for the present society. I have no idea why Pakatan Harapan chose him. It was probably due to lack of candidates.”

Ong was commenting on Pakatan’s choice for Dr Mahathir as their prime minister as announced during its convention in Shah Alam.