Malaysia’s June exports defy forecasts, expanding at 5%

Malaysia's exports in October surged 17.7% on-year to RM96.38bil, which is a historic high for the country, powered by manufactured goods.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s exports in June 2015 grew 5% from a year ago to RM64.3bil, exceeding economists’ expectations of a 2.2% decline, boosted by higher exports to China, Taiwan and the US.

When compared with May, the exports were up RM3.8bil, or 6.3% on a month-on-month basis, according to the Statistics Department.

“In seasonally adjusted terms, exports rose 6.2%,” it said.

The higher exports were mainly electrical and electronics (E&E) products, palm oil and palm-based products, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and nature rubber. 

On a month-on-month, exports increased due to higher exports to China (+RM1.6bil), Taiwan (+RM435.1mil), USA (+RM393.6mil), Hong Kong (+RM288.2mil) and Indonesia (+RM219.4mil).    

The Statistics Department said E&E products, which contributed 36.0% to total exports, grew 9.8% or RM2.1bil to RM23.1bil in June. 

Palm oil and palm-based products, which contributed 9.3% to total exports, increased RM680.8mil to RM6bil. Exports of palm oil, the major commodity in this group of products grew 18.6% or RM646.7mil due to the increase in both export volume and average unit value. 

Refined petroleum products, which accounted for 5% of total exports, however, fell RM593.6mil or 15.6% to RM3.2bil due to the decrease in export volume by 19.5%, although average unit value increased 4.8%.

Crude petroleum (3.2% of total exports), decreased RM209.6mil to RM2.1bil mainly due to the decline in export volume as average unit value increased 6.5%.

The department said June imports fell RM840.5mil (-1.5%) from RM57.1bil a year ago, again lesser than the expected 4.5% decline.

When compared with May, imports rose RM1.3bil (+2.4%) to RM56.3bil.  In seasonally adjusted terms, imports expanded by 2.5%.

On a month-on-month basis, the rise in imports were mainly from the US (+RM1bil), Japan (+RM620.3mil), Indonesia (+RM471.4mil) and China (+RM448.4mil).

Meanwhile, the department said intermediate goods which constituted 58.2% of total imports rose RM1.1bil to RM32.8bil. 

The increase were mainly attributed to industrial supplies, processed, food & beverages, processed, mainly for industries, and parts and accessories of capital goods (except transport equipment).

The department said imports in June expanded 2.4% month-on-month to RM56.3bil, buoyed by significant increases in imports of intermediate and consumption goods. 

Malaysia’s trade surplus of RM8bil in June 2015, an increase of RM2.5bil, or 44.7% from RM5.5bil in the previous month. It also grew 94.4% or RM3.9bil from a year ago.

According to the Bloomberg consensus estimates, the trade surplus is expected to be at RM5.5bil, while exports and import were to contract 2.2% and 4.5% respectively. 

Total trade in June 2015, which was valued at RM120.5bil, increased RM5.1bil from the previous month. It also posted a growth of RM2.2bil or 1.9% from a year ago.