Malaysia's trade soars 40% in 18-month double digit growth

Malaysia's trade continued its upward trajectory, rising 39.8% to RM252.65 billion in July 2022 compared with RM180.69 billion in the same month last year, marking the 18th consecutive month of double-digit growth, the international trade and industry ministry said today.

Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali said exports increased 38.0% to RM134.07 billion, posting the 12th successive month of double-digit growth, while imports expanded 41.9% to RM118.58 billion and trade surplus grew 14.3% to RM15.49 billion.

"Export growth was driven by higher demand for electrical and electronics (E&E) products, petroleum products as well as liquefied natural gas (LNG). 

"Exports to major trading partners notably Asean, the US, the European Union (EU) and Japan, recorded double-digit growth. The highest monthly export value was registered to Asean," he said in a statement on Malaysia's external trade statistics for July 2022 today. 

On a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, Azmin said trade, exports, imports and trade surplus slipped 6.5%, 8.2%, 4.5%, and 29.1%, respectively.

For the January to July 2022 period, trade was up 29.9% to RM1.61 trillion from the same period last year, exports increased 27.8% to RM873.07 billion and imports grew 32.5% to RM734.51 billion. 

"Trade surplus climbed 7.4% to RM138.56 billion. Trade, exports, imports and trade surplus registered the highest value for the period," he added. 

On the export performance of major sectors, Azmin said manufactured goods in July 2022, which represented 83.7% of total exports, rose 35.4% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM112.26 billion, the 12th straight month of double-digit expansion.

The growth was attributed to higher exports of E&E products, petroleum products, machinery, equipment and parts, manufactures of metal, optical and scientific equipment, as well as chemicals and chemical products, with each recording more than RM1 billion increase in exports, he added. 

Exports of mining goods (8.1% share) soared 100.4% y-o-y to RM10.81 billion, the 16th successive month of double-digit growth, underpinned by growing exports of LNG and crude petroleum.

Exports of agriculture goods (7.8% share) increased 24.1% to RM10.52 billion compared to July 2021, the 17th consecutive month of double-digit growth, boosted by strong exports of palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products. 

Meanwhile, Azmin said the imports performance for July 2022 saw intermediate goods, valued at RM61.83 billion or 52.1% of total imports, increase by 32.2% following higher imports of processed industrial supplies.

Capital goods, worth RM10.97 billion or 9.3% of total imports, expanded 29.6% due to higher imports of industrial transport equipment while consumption goods, valued at RM8.52 billion or 7.2% of total imports, rose 33.2% as a result of higher imports of processed food and beverages, mainly for household consumption.

On Malaysia’s trade performance with major markets, the minister said trade with Asean in July 2022 surged 63.0% y-o-y to RM73.31 billion, comprising 29.0% of Malaysia’s total trade. 

He said exports rose 55.6% to RM42.53 billion, the highest monthly value recorded so far, while imports from Asean jumped 74.4% to RM30.78 billion.

Trade with China in July 2022, which made up 16.1% of Malaysia’s total trade, rose 19.3% y-o-y to RM40.58 billion, the 20th successive month of double-digit growth, with exports registering a growth of 9.8% to RM15.88 billion following robust exports of E&E products, while imports increased 26.4% to RM24.70 billion.

Trade with the US which accounted for 9.0% of Malaysia’s total trade grew 29.7% y-o-y to RM22.82 billion, with exports increasing by 20.5% to RM13.30 billion, underpinned by strong exports of E&E products, while imports from the US rose 45.3% to RM9.52 billion.

Trade with the EU in July 2022 climbed 14.0% y-o-y to RM17.04 billion, representing 6.7% of Malaysia’s total trade, exports increased 21.2% to RM9.57 billion and imports edged up 6.0% to RM7.47 billion. 

In July 2022, trade with Japan, which constituted 5.9% of Malaysia’s total trade, rose 29.6% y-o-y to RM15 billion with exports increasing 30.8% to RM7.71 billion while imports increased 28.4% to RM7.29 billion.

"This was owing to higher exports of broad-based products, namely LNG, E&E, palm oil and palm oil-based products as well as wood products," said Azmin.