Exports in January jump 13.6% year-on-year

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's exports grew by 13.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM70.2 billion in January 2017, on the back of higher shipments of electrical and electronic (E&E) goods, refined petroleum, palm oil and palm oil-based products, crude petroleum, natural rubber, as well as liquefied natural gas.
The Department of Statistics, in a statement released last Friday, said the growth was due to higher exports to Asean markets, which rose 13.9% to RM20.9 billion. Besides Asean, Malaysia's exports to the European Union grew 12.1% to RM7.4 billion.
Exports of E&E products rose 11.4% or RM2.5 billion to RM24.9 billion, and accounted for 35.4% of total exports, while refined petroleum products, which accounted for 7.3% of total exports, surged 85.8% or RM2.4 billion to RM5.2 billion, due to the increase in both export volume and average unit value.
Crude petroleum, which contributed 3.5% to total exports, grew RM807.8 million or 48.1% to RM2.5 billion mainly due to the increase in average unit value and a small contribution from export volume.
Imports in January, meanwhile, increased 16.1% y-o-y to RM65.5 billion from RM56.5 billion previously, mainly contributed by intermediate goods and capital goods.
On a y-o-y basis, higher imports were mainly from China (up RM3.1 billion), the US (up RM1.3 billion), Taiwan (up RM1.1 billion), Indonesia (up RM1.1 billion) and the United Arab Emirates (up RM793.4 million).
Total trade in January 2017 increased 14.8% or RM17.5 billion to RM135.8 billion, compared with the previous year. However, the total trade posted a decline of RM6.6 billion or 4.6% when compared with the previous month.
A lower trade surplus of RM4.7 billion was recorded when compared with the previous year (-12.6%) and the previous month (-46%).