Malaysia's July exports up 30% on-year, exceed forecast

The main contributors to the increase in the September exports were electrical and electronics (E&E) products, which contributed 37.2% to total exports.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's exports in July 2017 rose 30.9% to RM78.62bil, exceeding a Bloomberg survey of a 23% increase, underpinned by higher exports to China and increased manufactured products.

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) announced on Wednesday that exports posted a stronger year-on-year growth than imports for the third straight month.

Imports were higher by 21.8% to RM70.59bil and total trade expanded by 26.4% to RM149.21bil.

July’s trade surplus of RM8.03bil marked the 237th consecutive month of trade surplus since November 1997.

MITI said on a month-on-month basis, total trade, exports and imports in July 2017 were higher by 9.5%, 7.6%, and 11.7%, respectively. 

It said exports of manufactured goods for July 2017 grew by 32.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM64.66bil and contributed 82.2% to Malaysia’s total exports. 

“Electrical and electronic (E&E) exports continued to register a double-digit growth for the seventh straight month, increasing by 28.3% or RM6.15bil in July,” it said.
 
Exports of mining goods in July 2017 expanded by 27.5% to RM6.71bil, accounting for 8.5% of Malaysia’s total exports. 

Exports of agriculture goods increased by 14.8% to RM6.42bil and constituted 8.2% of Malaysia’s total exports. The main drivers of growth were higher exports of palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products especially palm oil.

MITI said trade with Asean expanded by 37% y-o-y to RM42.59bil, accounting for 28.5% of Malaysia’s total trade in July 2017. 

Exports rose 33.8% to RM24.32bil, while imports rose by 41.3% to RM18.26bil. 

“Exports to all Asean countries attained double-digit growth, due to higher exports of petroleum products, E&E products, machinery, equipment and parts, optical and scientific equipment, chemicals and chemical products as well as iron and steel products,” it said.

MITI said trade with China rose 26.4% to RM23.7bil, surged by 26.4% compared to July 2016 and constituted 15.9% of Malaysia’s total trade. 

Exports to China remained sturdy with a double-digit growth for nine consecutive months, growing by 28.8% to RM9.38bil in July 2017. The main export items were E&E products, rubber products, LNG, chemicals and chemical products as well as manufactures of metal.

Meanwhile, imports from China increased by 24.8% to RM14.32bil.
 
Compared to June 2017, exports declined by 4.2% while total trade and imports were higher by 4.2% and 10.5%, respectively.