Malaysia’s trade performance registered double-digit year-on-year (y-o-y) growth, increasing by 11% to RM204.99 billion compared to February 2022. Exports grew by 9.8% to RM112.28 billion and imports expanded by 12.4% to RM92.71 billion. Trade surplus was recorded for 34 consecutive months since May 2020, valued at RM19.56 billion.
The country’s trade, exports and imports registered the highest monthly value for February.
MITI said the export growth was supported by strong exports of petroleum products, electrical and electronic (E&E) products as well as liquefied natural gas (LNG). Meanwhile, exports to major trading partners notably ASEAN and the United States (US) recorded double-digit growth.
Compared to January 2023, the trade surplus grew by 7.9%, while trade, exports, and imports slipped by 1.1%, 0.3%, and 1.9%, respectively due to shorter working days.
For the period of January to February 2023, trade rose by 6.1% to RM412.17 billion compared to the same period in 2022 whicle exports expanded by 5.4% to RM224.93 billion and imports climbed by 7% to RM187.24 billion. Meanwhile, the trade surplus edged down marginally by 1.8% to RM37.69 billion. Trade, exports, and imports registered the highest value for the period.
Export Performance of Major Sectors
Petroleum Products, E&E Products and LNG Supported Export Growth, exports of manufactured goods which accounted for 85% of total exports rebounded by 9.5% y-o-y to RM95.4 billion. The increase was boosted by robust exports of petroleum products and E&E products.
Exports of mining goods (8.2% share) climbed by 34.8% y-o-y to RM9.2 billion, the 23rd consecutive month of double-digit growth, led by higher exports of LNG.
Exports of agriculture goods (6.4% share) totalled RM7.16 billion, declined by 9% compared to February 2022 due to lower exports of palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products.
Major exports in February 2023:
E&E products, valued at RM44.27 billion and accounted for 39.4% of total exports, increased by 11.7% from February 2022;
Petroleum products, RM12.26 billion, 10.9% of total exports, surged by 67.5%; Chemicals and chemical products, RM6.16 billion, 5.5% of total exports, decreased by 7.2%; LNG, RM5.42 billion, 4.8% of total exports, increased by 32.9%; and Palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products, RM5.38 billion, 4.8% of total exports, decreased by 13.8%.
On a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, exports of manufactured and agriculture goods improved by 0.6% and 2.1%, respectively while exports of mining goods fell by 10.1%.
For the period of January to February 2023, exports of manufactured goods rose by 4.4% to RM190.21 billion compared to the corresponding period last year. This was attributed to higher exports of petroleum products and E&E products.
Exports of agriculture goods was valued at RM14.16 billion, decreased by 14.7% due to lower exports of palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products. Exports of mining goods grew by 42.4% to RM19.43 billion boosted by higher exports
of LNG and crude petroleum.
