Malaysia’s trade continued its stellar performance in September 2021, with a new high for trade, exports and trade surplus monthly value, according to a statistics report from the International Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI).
MITI reported that trade expanded by 25.5% to RM195.54 billion compared to September 2020, the eighth consecutive month of double-digit growth since February 2021.
Exports maintained above RM100 billion for the fourth time this year, grew by 24.7% to RM110.83 billion.
This was the 13th consecutive month of year-on-year (y-o-y) expansion since September 2020. Imports increased by 26.5% to RM84.7 billion and trade surplus rose by 19.1% to RM26.13 billion.
The export growth was contributed mainly by robust external demand for petroleum products, manufactures of metal, palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products as well as electrical and electronic (E&E) products.
Exports of manufactures of metal, palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products as well as E&E products registered the highest monthly value thus far.
Meanwhile, exports to ASEAN, China, the United States (US) and Japan recorded double-digit growth. Exports to China registered the highest monthly value ever.
On a month-on-month basis, trade, exports, imports and trade surplus recorded double-digit growth of 15.2%, 16%, 14.2% and 22.2%, respectively.
Trade for the third quarter (Q3) of 2021 grew by 18.1% to RM546.21 billion, compared to Q3 2020. Exports increased by 15.8% to RM303.74 billion, the highest quarterly value. Imports expanded by 21% to RM242.47 billion resulting in a trade surplus of RM61.28 billion, which decreased marginally by 1.1%.
Compared to the second quarter (Q2) of 2021, exports and trade surplus were up by 0.1% and 8.7% while trade and imports declined by 0.8% and 1.8%, respectively.
For the first nine months of 2021, trade expanded by 23.2% to RM1.602 trillion from the same period last year. Exports grew by 24.9% to RM889.32 billion, the fastest growth recorded since 1998. Imports rose by 21.1% to RM712.99 billion and trade surplus surged by 43.1% to RM176.33 billion.
