“The robust growth in 2025 …was significantly bolstered by high-level diplomatic official visits by the prime minister," Reezal Merican said.
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s trade performance rose to record levels last year, on the back of new highs in both export and import values.
The government released data yesterday showing total trade for 2025 gaining 6.3% to RM3.1 trillion, with exports exceeding RM1 trillion for the fifth consecutive year, climbing 6.5% to a record RM1.607 trillion, while imports grew 6.2% to RM1.455 trillion.
Malaysia achieved a surplus of RM151.80bil, maintaining its 28-year streak of continuous surpluses since 1998.
Commenting on the trade performance, Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade) chairman Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican said in a statement: “The robust growth in 2025, particularly in emerging markets and with Free Trade Agreement partners, was significantly bolstered by high-level diplomatic official visits by the prime minister to regions such as Africa, Latin America and Central Asia that have paved the way for deeper economic ties and expanded market access.”
Matrade CEO Abu Bakar Yusof said moving forward, Matrade remains focused on empowering Malaysian exporters, particularly micro, small and medium enterprises, to seize new opportunities across the globe.
“We will continue to intensify our export promotion and development programmes, ensuring that Malaysian products and services successfully expand into new export markets,” he said.
Looking ahead, however, economists said they believe that Malaysia’s exports momentum from last year would not spill over to this year, even as continued demand for semiconductors and electrical and electronics (E&E) goods could help mitigate risks of a deeper slowdown amid supply shifts and uncertainty over trade policy.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said he expects total trade to hover around RM3 trillion this year even as the trade momentum moderates due to the full brunt of US tariffs.
He said import trends from last year may not be repeated this year due to more cautious sentiment resulting in a moderation of investment activity.
Imports of capital goods used to produce other goods surged 29.1%, similar to 2024, while imports of intermediate goods fell 3.2% after expanding 20%. Imports of consumption goods, for direct consumer use, moderated to 2.3% after a 12.8% gain.
Pointing to the front-loading of exports last year for the resilient trade performance, Socio-Economic Research Centre executive director Lee Heng Guie expects exports to grow by 3.5% this year as the full impact of US tariffs and risks of a “payback” period following the surge last year begin to affect domestic exporters.
Lee added that last year’s positive exports data was helped by sustained demand for E&E products and firm commodity prices amid uncertainty brought about by US tariffs as well as the appreciating ringgit.
Professor Yeah Kim Leng, a senior fellow and director of the economic studies programme at Sunway University, said he expects the country’s trade performance to hold up this year despite moderating global economic and trade growth.
He believes trade for this year would be supported by strong demand for semiconductors and other electronic products, production capacity expansion and normalisation of tariff impacts following the US-Malaysia tariff agreement.
Yeah said other factors in Malaysia’s favour include diversified exports and its central position in the global semiconductor supply chain.
“It also reflects the positive spillovers of US-China trade conflict and the China+1 strategy that anchored the surge in foreign and domestic fixed capital investments in the country, thereby expanding its trade capacity,” he said.
In December, total trade was driven by a 10.4% jump in exports and a 12% rise in imports compared with the same month in 2024. Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin highlighted that the performance of exports in December reflected a corresponding increase in re-exports, which accounted for a quarter of total exports for the month, surging 35%, and domestic exports, which grew 4%.
Imports rose 12% and the trade surplus rose a marginal 0.1% to RM19.3bil.
