In November 2021, trade with Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners who constituted 67.7% of Malaysia’s total trade rose by 35% y-o-y to RM139.19 billion.
In a statement on Tuesday (Dec 28), the Ministry of International and Industry (MITI) said that exports to FTA partners edged up by 31.8% to RM76.88 billion and imports grew by 39.3% to RM62.31 billion.
It said that Increases in exports were recorded to India, by 69.7% to RM4.76 billion, Turkey (↑69.6% to RM1.2 billion) and Pakistan (↑11% to RM452.1 million) due to robust exports of palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products.
Higher exports were also recorded to the Republic of Korea, (↑49.1% to RM3.67 billion) and Australia, (↑17.6% to RM2.66 billion) led by strong exports of petroleum products. Meanwhile, exports expanded to New Zealand (↑1.6% to RM496.1 million) and Chile (↑30.8% to RM116.6 million) attributed to growing exports of chemicals and chemical products.
Compared to October 2021, trade, exports, and imports were higher by 3.9%, 1.6% and 7%, respectively.
It said that trade with FTA partners during the first 11 months of 2021 which made up 66.8% of Malaysia’s total trade, expanded by 25% to RM1.342 trillion compared to the same period of 2020. Exports grew by 23.8% to RM747.62 billion and imports rose by 26.6% to RM594.56 billion.
Trade with the EU soared to an all-time high comprising 8.1% of Malaysia’s total trade in November 2021 edged up by 43.1% y-o-y to RM16.66 billion, registering the highest monthly value and the 10th consecutive month of double-digit growth.
It said that exports increased by 30.9% to RM9.02 billion on higher exports of E&E products, palm oil and palm oil-based products as well as manufactures of metal. Imports from the EU rose by 60.8% to RM7.64 billion.
Imports from the EU rose by 60.8% to RM7.64 billion. Exports to all EU major markets recorded expansion notably to the Netherlands which increased by RM1.13 billion due to higher demand for palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products, Germany (↑RM8.2 million, E&E products) and Italy (↑RM186.8 million, manufactures of metal).
On a month-on-month basis, trade and imports grew by 4.1% and 10.2%, respectively while exports declined marginally by 0.5%.
