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Malaysia’s total trade hits new high of RM270.4bil in June
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s total trade in June hit a new record high of RM270.4bil, up 43.4% on the previous year, as both export and import numbers continued to trend higher.
However, as imports grew faster than imports, the country’s trade surplus shrank 0.8% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM21.9bil.
On a month-on-month basis, trade surplus in June was 72.7% higher over the immediate preceding month of May.
Reporting on the June trade performance, the National Statistics Department said exports rose 38.8% to a value of RM146.2bil compared with June last year.
By destination, the higher shipments were mainly recorded in Singapore, the US, the EU, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India and South Korea.
“The expansion by products was driven by electrical & electronic products (RM15.2bil), petroleum products (RM9.9bil), liquefied
natural gas (RM3.8bil), palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products (RM3.7bil), machinery, equipment and parts (RM1.4bil), crude petroleum (RM1.4bil) and manufacture of metal (RM1bil),” said chief statistician Datuk Mohd Uzir Mahidin in a statement.
Imports meanwhile accelerated 49.3% y-o-y to RM124.2bil with higher shipment values to Singapore, China, Taiwan, the US, the EU, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Australia.
According to Mohd Uzir, the expansion in imports by end-use was sustained by higher demand for intermediate goods, capital goods and consumption goods.
“Imports of intermediate goods, valued at RM64.4bil or 51.8% of total imports, increased by 46.9%, following higher imports of industrial supplies, processed
“Capital goods, totalled RM11.2bil (9% of total imports), grew by 30.4%, due mainly to higher imports of transport equipment, industrial.
“Meanwhile, imports of consumption goods (7.4% of total imports) registered an increase of 25.6 per cent to RM9.2bil, as a result of higher imports of food & beverages, processed, mainly for household consumption,” he added.
For the entire second quarter of 2022, total trade increased 32.7% y-o-y to RM730.4bil, marking the highest quarterly value so far, on the back of record expansion in exports and imports.
Over the first half of 2022, total trade went up 28.2% with a 26.1% increase in exports and 30.9% growth in imports.
Trade surplus over the six-month period rose to RM123.1bil.
Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2022/07/20/malaysia039s-total-trade-hits-new-high-of-rm2704mil-in-june