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China remains Malaysia’s largest trading partner for 12th consecutive year

  • Feb 01, 2021

Xinhua – Malaysia’s trade with China registered positive growth in 2020 with record high exports as China continued to be Malaysia’s largest trading partner for the 12th consecutive year, said the Malaysian Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

In announcing Malaysia’s trade performance in 2020, the ministry said China, which has remained as Malaysia’s largest export destination, contributed 16.2 percent to Malaysia’s total exports in 2020.

Malaysia’s exports to China rose 12.5 percent year-on-year to about $39.23 billion in 2020, the highest value thus far, driven by higher exports of iron and steel products, electronics and electrical (E&E) products, manufacturing of metal, palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products, rubber products as well as paper and pulp products.

According to the ministry, Malaysia’s trade with China expanded by 4.2 percent to about $81.6 billion in 2020.

“As Malaysia’s largest trading partner for 12 consecutive years, trade with China in 2020 accounted for a larger share at 18.6 percent of total trade compared with 17.2 percent a year ago,” it said.

China was also Malaysia’s largest import source, accounting for 21.5 percent of total imports in 2020 despite a 2.6 percent drop year-on-year, the ministry said.

“Main imports were E&E products, machinery, equipment and parts, as well as chemicals and chemical products,” it said.

Overall, Malaysia’s exports in 2020 fell 1.4 percent year-on-year to about $243 billion, in tandem with the unfavourable external environment from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Its total trade in 2020 contracted 3.6 percent to $440.3 billion, while imports declined by 6.3 percent to about $197 billion.

The ministry said Malaysia’s external trade is expected to remain modest with exports projected to rebound by 2.7 percent in 2021.

“Higher demand for semiconductors and commodity-based products is anticipated to drive exports as global economic activities recover,” it added.