The latest trade report from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry shows that Malaysia’s trade performance maintained its upward movement in July 2021 as trade increased by 13% to RM180.96 billion compared to July 2020. This was the sixth consecutive month of double-digit growth since February 2021. Exports grew by 5% to RM97.32 billion, the 11th consecutive month of year-on-year (y-o-y) expansion since
September 2020.
Imports rose by 24% to RM83.64 billion while trade surplus contracted 45.8% to RM13.68 billion. Trade, exports and imports registered the highest monthly value for July. The export growth was backed by higher shipments of petroleum products, palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products as well as chemicals and chemical products driven by robust external demand. Exports to major markets namely ASEAN, the European Union (EU) and Japan recorded positive growth.
For the first seven months of 2021, trade expanded by 23.9% to RM1.237 trillion from the same period last year. Exports grew by 25.9% to RM682.9 billion and imports rose by 21.6% to RM554.17 billion. Trade surplus surged by 48.8% to RM128.74 billion.
All sectors recorded export growth, exports of manufactured goods which represented 85.1% of total exports, rose by 2.3% y-o-y to RM82.85 billion. Petroleum products, chemicals and chemical products as well as palm oil-based manufactured products registered more than RM1 billion expansion in exports. Exports of agriculture goods (8.7% share) recorded a double-digit growth of 29.2% to RM8.47 billion compared to July 2020 supported mainly by higher exports of palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products. Exports of mining goods (5.8% share) rose by 18.3% y-o-y to RM5.65 billion, the fourth straight month of double-digit growth. The increase was buoyed mainly by higher exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Trade with ASEAN also grew by 10.5% y-o-y to RM45.3 billion which contributed 25% to Malaysia’s total trade. Exports expanded by 7.9% to RM27.65 billion, owing to higher exports of petroleum products. Imports from ASEAN rose by 14.7% to RM17.65 billion. Singapore remains the biggest trading partner with RM14.04 billion and increased of 9%.
Meanwhile, trade with China recorded a double-digit growth of 15% y-o-y to RM33.89 billion which made up 18.7% of Malaysia’s total trade. Exports to China contracted by 8.1% to RM14.34 billion due to lower exports of petroleum products. However, higher exports was seen for chemicals and chemical products as well as palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products.
