Malaysia's trade reaches RM1.06 trillion in February

Malaysia’s trade reaches RM1.06 trillion in February

Even prior to the Covid-19 crisis, the effects of technological change on the global economic structure have created an immense transfor- mation in the way companies and nations organise production, trade goods, invest capital, and develop new products and processes (pic: Razak Ghazali/TMR)

by ANIS HAZIM/ pic by MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

MALAYSIA’s trade rose 17.5% to RM1.06 trillion in February 2022, from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI).

The country’s exports surpassed the RM100 billion mark for the first time in February, which registered an increase of 16.8% to RM102.27 billion.

“The export growth was boosted by higher shipments of electrical and electronic (E&E) products driven by global digitalisation trends as well as palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products which was supported by higher prices of crude palm oil (CPO),” MITI said in a statement on Friday.

Notably, the exports recorded double-digit growth in major markets including Asean, China, the European Union (EU) and Japan.

Malaysia’s imports also expanded by 18.4% to RM82.48 billion and the trade surplus grew by 10.7% to RM19.79 billion.

Meanwhile, trade, exports and imports also registered the fastest growth since 2010 and the highest value for the period.

However, on a month-on-month (MoM), trade, exports and imports slipped by 9.2%, 7.9% and 10.8%, respectively due to shorter working days and the festive season, but trade surplus saw an increase by 6.6%.

Nevertheless, MITI said that the trade, exports and imports registered the fastest growth since 2010 and the highest value for the first two months of 2022.

Additionally, exports of manufactured goods in February 2022 accounted for 85.2% of total exports, expanding by 14.2% year-on-year (YoY) to RM87.16 billion.

“This was attributed to higher exports of E&E products, chemicals and chemical products, manufactures of metal as well as palm oil-based manufactured products, each recorded more than RM1 billion increase in exports,” it noted.

For agriculture goods (7.7% share), its exports climbed 38.7% to RM7.9 billion compared to February 2021, boosted by strong exports of palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products.

Exports of mining goods (6.6% share) also rose 30.7% YoY to RM6.79 billion, underpinned by growing exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Meanwhile, exports to major markets in Asean that recorded increases were Singapore which grew by RM1.83 billion, due to higher exports of E&E products.

This is followed by Thailand (RM1.22 billion, crude petroleum), Vietnam (RM1.37 billion, E&E), Indonesia (RM697.8 million, petroleum) and the Philippines (RM19.5 million, palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products).

Besides, exports to China also grew 19.2% to RM15.28 billion following higher exports of E&E products as well as chemicals and chemical products, while from China rose 6% to RM16.9 billion.