Malaysia's September exports up 14.8% year on year

PETALING JAYA:  Malaysia's exports rose 14.8% to RM78.3 billion in September 2017 from RM68.2 billion a year ago, while imports rose 15.2% to RM69.7 billion from RM60.5 billion.
According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, re-exports in September 2017 were valued at RM13.6 billion and accounted for 17.3% of total exports, while domestic exports grew 11.6% to RM64.7 billion.
Exports increased year-on-year due to higher shipments to China (27.1%), Hong Kong (41%), the EU (16.2%) and Indonesia (42.9%), while higher imports were mainly from Singapore (36%), Taiwan (37.1%), China (7.8%) and Korea (31.8%).
The main contributors to higher exports were electrical and electronic products, liquefied natural gas (LNG), refined petroleum products, natural rubber as well as timber and timber-based products, all of which reported increases.
However, palm oil and palm oil-based products fell 1.6% to RM6.3 billion, mainly due to the decrease in palm oil-based oleochemical. Crude petroleum, which contributed 2.2% to total exports, also declined 4.9% to RM1.7 billion due to the decrease in export volume.
Meanwhile, the growth in imports was attributed to higher imports of intermediate, capital and consumption goods which grew 13.7%, 10.4% and 5.6% respectively.
The country's total trade in September 2017 rose 15% to RM147.9 billion on a year-on-year basis while the trade surplus increased 11.5% to RM8.6 billion from a year ago.
Based on data released by the department today, total trade stood at RM1.3 trillion for January till September this year, with China being the biggest trade partner making up 16.2% of the total trade, followed by Singapore at 12.9%.
Total exports for the nine months stood at RM690.3 billion while total imports stood at RM620.7 billion. Total exports to Asean countries stood at RM202.4 billion while total imports from Asean countries came to RM158.7 billion.