Malaysia’s January exports down 2.8% to nearly RM62b

Malaysia's total trade in September 2014 was valued at RM119.7bil – an improvement of 1.6% or RM1.8bil from September 2013.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s January 2016 exports fell 2.8% to RM61.9bil from a year ago, which was a disappointment when compared with a survey of a 2.5% increase.

The Statistics Department said on Friday on a month-on-month basis, exports also fell RM6.4bil (-9.4%) from RM68.3bil. 

“In seasonally adjusted terms, exports decreased 7.4%,” it said.

The department said the decrease in exports was due to the decline in exports to Japan (-RM1.9bil), South Korea (-RM752.0mil), Taiwan (-RM512.6mil), Australia (-RM454.3mil) and Hong Kong (-RM346.8mil).

The decline in exports were due to liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude petroleum though there was an increase in electrical and electronic (E&E) products and palm oil and palm-based products.

It said total January imports rose 3.3% to RM56.5bil from a year ago, below the survey of a 4.9% increase. The increase in imports was attributed to intermediate goods and consumption goods.

However on a month-on-month basis, imports fell RM3.6bil (-6.0%) from RM60.1bill. In seasonally adjusted terms, imports decreased 3.2%.

Malaysia recorded a trade surplus of RM5.4bil in January, down 39.8% from RM9bil a year ago.

“When compared with the previous month, it (surplus) also posted a decrease of RM2.9bil or 34.6%,” said the department.