KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s export growth continued to outpace import, with June 2017 trade surplus at RM9.88 billion, marking the 236th consecutive month of trade surplus since November 1997 and the highest surplus since April 2016.
In a statement yesterday, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) said exports in June 2017 showed a stronger year-on-year growth than imports for the second straight month.
“Exports expanded by 10 per cent to RM73.07 billion while imports grew by 3.7 per cent to RM63.19 billion.
“Trade surplus in June of RM9.88 billion was the highest value of trade surplus since April 2016,” said MITI.
The ministry said Malaysia’s total trade for the month increased by 7.0 per cent to RM136.26 billion, up from RM127.38 billion recorded in June 2016.
Expansion was supported mainly by trade with China, India, Japan, the European Union, Asean, the United States, Taiwan and South Korea.
Total trade, exports and imports were however lower by 11.1 per cent, 8.0 per cent and 14.5 per cent, respectively, as compared to May 2017.
Exports of manufactured goods for June 2017 grew by 7.4 per cent to RM59.63 billion and contributed 81.6 per cent to Malaysia’s total exports.
This was boosted by higher exports of electrical and electronic (E&E) products, iron and steel products, rubber products, as well as transport equipment.
Exports of mining goods in June 2017 accounted for 9.3 per cent of Malaysia’s total exports, up from 7.3 per cent in June 2016.
“Exports of mining goods expanded by 40.3 per cent to RM6.77 billion, the sixth straight month whereby exports of mining goods recorded double-digit year-on-year growth.
“The higher export growth was spurred by increased exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), supported by both higher average unit value (AUV) and volume, “said MITI.
Meanwhile, exports of agriculture goods increased by 7.7 per cent to RM5.97 billion and constituted 8.2 per cent of Malaysia’s total exports.
This was steered by higher exports of palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products, with palm oil leading by both higher AUV and volume.
The major exports in June 2017 were E&E products valued at RM27.96 billion, constituting 38.3 per cent of total exports, up by 15.1 per cent from June 2016; and Chemicals and chemical products, RM5.16 billion, 7.1 per cent of total exports, increased by 4.5 per cent year-on-year.
The others were Petroleum products worth RM4.69 billion, accounting for 6.4 per cent of total exports, down 9.5 per cent from June 2016; Palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products, RM4.25 billion, 5.8 per cent of total exports, increased by 16 per cent; and LNG, RM3.98 billion, 5.4 per cent of total exports, increased by 97.3 per cent. — Bernama