KUCHING: Sarawak recorded an export value of RM116.67 billion last year compared to RM108.4 billion the previous year, an increase of seven per cent.
Sarawak Matrade (Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation) director Leany Mokhtar said according to figures released by the Statistics Department recently, the state’s export value was RM103.63 billion in 2012.
She said natural gas and manufactured goods dominated Sarawak’s main exports, representing 64.59 per cent of total exports last year, followed by petroleum and petroleum-related products at 24.85 per cent.
“Others included other fixed vegetable oils, fluid or solid, crude, refined or purified (8.4 per cent), veneers, plywood, particle board and other wood (4.92 per cent), and non-ferrous metals (2.8 per cent),” she told Bernama when contacted here recently.
She said Japan remained Sarawak’s major export destination, accounting for 45.52 per cent of Sarawak’s export value, followed by Peninsular Malaysia (18.56 per cent), Korea (12.45 per cent), Taiwan (9.87 per cent) and China (7.9 per cent).
Asked to elaborate on Sarawak’s cross-border trade with Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia, Leany said Sirikin and Tebedu were the two main border points, with major trading items comprising food, beverages and tobacco, inedible crude materials, mineral fuels/lubricants, animal and vegetable oils, chemicals, manufactured goods, machinery and transport equipment.
She said Statistics Department figures show that in 2013, Sarawak’s exports worth RM19.224 million entered Indonesia through Serikin, with another RM171.365 million passing through Tebedu. Between January to June last year, RM10.056 million worth of Sarawak’s exports passed through Serikin and RM49.681 million through Tebedu. — Bernama