Malaysia’s September trade surplus falls 21.6% year on year

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia registered a year-on-year decline of RM2.1 billion or 21.6% in trade surplus to RM7.6 billion, according to the Statistics Department.
On a month-on-month basis, the trade surplus fell RM946.7 million, or 11.1%.
Malaysia’s exports fell 3.0% year-on-year to RM68.0 billion, mainly due to the drop in exports of crude petroleum (-26.8%), liquefied natural gas (-20%), timber and timber-based products (-11.5%) and natural rubber (-17.8%).
However, growth was recorded in exports of refined petroleum (+24.1%), palm oil and palm based-products (+6.3%) and electrical and electronics products (+0.3%).
Malaysia’s total trade in September was up by RM1.9 billion or 1.5% to RM128.5 billion compared with the previous month. However, on a year-on-year basis, it registered a decline of RM2.2 billion or 1.6%.
Imports, meanwhile, fell RM31.8 million or 0.1% year on year to RM60.5 billion. The reduction was attributed to capital goods and consumption goods.
Imports of intermediate goods, which represented 57.6% of total imports, expanded RM351.5 million or 1.0% to RM34.8 billion. Imports of capital goods increased RM307.6 million or 3.8% to RM8.4 billion, thanks to the growth in transport equipment, industrial. Imports of consumption goods expanded RM126.0 million or 2.4% to RM5.4 billion.
Over the first nine months of the year, China is Malaysia’s top trading partner, accounting for 15.8% of total trade, followed by Singapore (12.7%) and the European Union (10.1%).