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Malaysia: Exports rise for sixth straight month in Feb to RM87.57bil
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s February exports rose 17.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM87.57bil, backed by rising global demand for semiconductors, rubber products as well as petroleum products and palm oil.
According to the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti), this was a sixth consecutive month of export growth for the country and its highest recorded growth in 28 months.
Miti said imports during the month grew 12.7% y-o-y to RM69.7bil.
This brought the trade surplus in February 41.6% higher versus the same month in 2020 at RM17.9mil while total trade rose 15.4% y-o-y to RM157.27bil.
“Compared to January 2021, trade surplus increased by 7.6%. Total trade, exports and imports were lower by 3.3%, 2.3% and 4.5%, respectively,” said Miti.
Domestic exports in February stood at RM71.4bil, which was a 10.4% increase over the same month a year ago. Re-exports for the month jumped 65% y-o-y to RM16.1bil.
By destination, a higher value of shipments were sent to most major markets including Asean, China, the US, the EU, Japan and Hong Kong.
Exports of manufactured good in February, which contributed 86.6% to total exports, registered double-digit growth of 20.1% y-o-y to RM74.83bil due mainly to higher demand for electrical and electronics, rubber products and petroleum products.
“This was contributed mainly by higher demand of semiconductors for smart devices, 5G network as well as automotive industry as the global economic activities continued to recover,” said Miti
Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2021/03/29/exports-rise-for-sixth-straight-month-in-feb-to-rm8757bil