{"id":4782,"date":"2020-06-30T11:54:14","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T03:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=4782"},"modified":"2020-06-30T11:54:17","modified_gmt":"2020-06-30T03:54:17","slug":"malaysia-records-trade-surplus-of-rm10-4-bln-in-may","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=4782","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia records trade surplus of RM10.4 bln in May"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KUALA LUMPUR, June — Trade surplus in Malaysia grew\u00a014.7 percent year-on-year (y-o-y)\u00a0to RM10.41 billion last month, the highest monthly trade surplus recorded for May since May 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also marked the\u00a0fourth time that the country achieved\u00a0a trade surplus above RM10 billion this year, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said in a statement today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"malaysia\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

However, total trade during the month\u00a0shrank\u00a027.8 percent to RM114.96 billion\u00a0compared to a year earlier due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lower trade was recorded particularly with Singapore, Thailand, India, China, Japan, and Indonesia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExports totalled RM62.69 billion, a contraction of 25.5 per cent, while imports decreased 30.4 per cent to RM52.27 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCompared to April 2020, trade, exports and imports slipped 13.7 percent, 3.2 percent, and 23.6 percent, respectively,” the senior minister\u00a0said in a statement today.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first five months of the year, trade in Malaysia fell\u00a08.7 percent y-o-y to RM688.57 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lower trade was recorded with Thailand, Singapore, India, China, and Hong Kong, while higher trade was registered with South Korea and Indonesia. Exports during the period shrank\u00a09.7 percent to RM366.16 billion while\u00a0imports contracted 7.5 percent to RM322.41 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trade surplus was valued at RM43.75 billion, 23 percent lower against\u00a0the same period of 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mohamed Azmin said exports of rubber products, especially rubber gloves, registered double-digit growth for two consecutive months, increasing 20.5 percent or RM461 million in May, underpinned by the growing demand for rubber gloves which\u00a0benefitted from the pandemic.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was\u00a0despite the decline in exports of manufactured\u00a0goods by 23.5 percent y-o-y\u00a0to RM54.21 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe contraction of manufactured goods which constituted 86.5 percent of total exports was due to lower exports of electrical and electronic (E&E) products, petroleum products, manufactures of metal, chemicals, and chemical products as well as machinery, equipment and parts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exports of agriculture goods (7.9 percent share) decreased\u00a021.3 percent to RM4.94 billion due to lower exports of palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products compared with May 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exports of mining goods (5.1 percent share) dropped\u00a049.1 percent y-o-y to RM3.22 billion, mainly due to lower exports of crude petroleum and liquefied natural gas (LNG).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, trade with ASEAN in May contracted by 35.6 percent y-o-y to RM28.11 billion, accounting for 24.5 percent share of total trade in Malaysia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exports to ASEAN edged down 30.6 percent to RM17.19 billion partly due to lower exports of petroleum products, E&E products, iron, and steel products, manufactures of metal, and crude petroleum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, higher exports were\u00a0recorded for palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products and LNG. Imports from ASEAN plunged\u00a0by 42.2 percent to RM10.92 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for trade with China which represented 20.7 percent of Malaysia\u2019s total trade or RM23.75 billion, the May 2020 statistics showed a decrease of 10.6 percent y-o-y.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exports to China continued to expand for two consecutive months, rising by 4.5 percent to RM11.78 billion, led by exports of manufactured goods which grew by 9.1 percent, mainly due to higher exports of petroleum products, iron and steel products as well as other manufactures (SSD).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imports from China slipped by 21.7% to RM11.96 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mohamed Azmin further noted that\u00a0trade with the United States (US), which constituted 10.7 percent total trade in Malaysia for May, decreased\u00a012.5 percent y-o-y to RM12.26 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exports to the US eased 9.3 percent to RM7.09 billion, weighed down by lower exports of E&E products, palm oil, and palm oil-based agriculture products, optical and scientific equipment as well as textiles, apparels, and footwear.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, imports from the US contracted by 16.4 percent to RM5.16 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said trade with the European Union (EU), which contributed 8.7 percent to Malaysia\u2019s total trade, went down\u00a029.8 percent y-o-y to RM10.01 billion.\u00a0Exports to the bloc\u00a0fell 25.4 percent\u00a0to RM5.62 billion while imports from the EU was down 34.8 percent\u00a0at RM4.39 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, trade with Japan contracted 25.9 percent y-o-y to RM7.97 billion in May and accounted for 6.9 percent of Malaysia\u2019s total trade.\u00a0Exports declined 33 percent to RM4.01 billion\u00a0while imports fell 16.9 percent to RM3.96 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On trade with free trade agreement (FTA) partners, which\u00a0made up 66.4 percent of Malaysia\u2019s total trade, he said it\u00a0recorded a decline of 28.4 percent y-o-y to RM76.3 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exports to FTA partners were\u00a0valued at RM42.76 billion, a decrease of 26.3 percent, and imports were\u00a0lower by 31 percent at\u00a0RM33.54 billion, said the minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

— BERNAMA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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