5 minutes
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s trade in April amounted to RM133.34 billion, a decrease of 16.4% compared with April 2019, due to Covid-19 pandemic which caused major disruptions to global supply chain.
Lower trade was recorded particularly with Singapore, Thailand, India, US, Japan, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia. Exports was valued at RM64.92 billion, contracted by 23.8% while imports decreased by 8% to RM68.42 billion.
Trade balance recorded a deficit of RM3.5 billion in April 2020, after 269 consecutive months of surplus on account of a higher contraction in exports compared to imports.
Compared with March 2020, trade and exports slipped by 9.9% and 19%, respectively while imports increased by 0.9%.
Malaysia’s trade during the first four months of 2020 dropped by 3.5% to RM573.75 billion compared to the corresponding period of 2019. Lower trade was recorded with Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, India and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, higher trade was registered with South Korea, Indonesia and the US. Exports during the period registered a decrease of 5.5% to RM303.61 billion and imports declined marginally by 1.2% to RM270.14 billion.
Trade surplus was valued at RM33.47 billion, declined by 29.9% compared with the same period of 2019.
