According to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry Malaysia (MITI), Malaysia’s exports in Nov 2020 increased by 4.3 percent to RM84.43 billion compared to the same month last year. The increase registered a three consecutive months of year-on-year (y-o-y) growth.
The expansion was supported mainly by higher exports to the United States (US), Singapore, China and Hong Kong SAR.
The Ministry saw imports in Nov 2020 decrease by 9 percent y-o-y, registering it RM67.61 billion while total trade reached RM152.04 billion, contracting by 2 percent.
Trade surplus surged by 151.6 percent to RM16.82 billion and was registered as the highest trade surplus for the month of November.
Compared to Oct 2020, total trade, exports, imports and trade surplus decreased by 5 percent, 7.3 percent, 1.9 percent and 24 percent, respectively. Trade surplus for the first 11 months of the year recorded a double digit growth of 23.1 percent to RM163.86 billion compared to the same period of 2019.
Total trade was valued at RM1.606 trillion, registering a decline of 4.6 percent. Exports on the other hand stood at RM885.02 billion, contracting by 2.6 percent while imports was RM721.16 billion, a decline by 7 percent.
Exports of manufactured goods in Nov 2020 contributed to 88.1 percent whereas total exports rose by 8.1 percent y-o-y to RM74.34 billion. The growth was supported mainly by higher exports of electrical and electronic (E&E) products as well as rubber products.
Exports of rubber products recorded resilient performance with 13 consecutive months of growth. Higher exports were also registered for other manufactures especially solid state storage devices (SSD), wood products as well as optical, scientific and equipment.
Exports of agriculture goods (6.7 percent share) increased by 6 percent to RM5.65 billion compared to a year ago driven mainly by higher exports of palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products.
Exports of mining goods (4.9 percent share) contracted by 34.6 percent y-o-y to RM4.15 billion following lower exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), crude petroleum as well as petroleum condensates and other petroleum oil.
MITI has also reported that on a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, exports of mining goods increased by 15.8 percent, while manufactured and agriculture goods contracted by 7 percent and 21.2 percent, respectively.
Additionally, during the first 11 months of 2020, exports of manufactured goods slipped marginally by 0.3 percent to RM765.63 billion compared to the same period of 2019, on account of lower exports of petroleum products, chemicals and chemical products as well as manufactures of metal.
Meanwhile, higher exports were recorded for rubber products, E&E products, other manufactures (SSD), iron and steel products as well as optical and scientific equipment. Exports of agriculture goods grew by five percent to RM63.32 billion attributed mainly to higher exports of palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products.
Exports of mining goods fell by 29.7 percent to RM52.21 billion due to lower exports of LNG, crude petroleum as well as petroleum condensates and other petroleum oil.
Major exports in November 2020:
· E&E products, valued at RM34.1 billion and constituted 40.4% of total exports, increased by 23.6% from Nov 2019
· Rubber products, RM5.13 billion, 6.1% of total exports, surged by 124.8%
· Petroleum products, RM4.5 billion, 5.3% of total exports, decreased by 28.1%
· Chemicals and chemical products, RM4.46 billion, 5.3% of total exports, declined by 6.6%
· Palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products, RM4.01 billion, 4.7% of total exports, increased by 12.1%.
