aseansources.com - Malaysia External Trade Statistics JUNE 2007

Malaysian External Trade Statistics May & January - May 2008

MAY 2008
1. In May 2008, Malaysian external trade posted a surplus of RM15.6 billion as compared with RM8.0 billion in the same month of 2007. A growth of 95.5% or RM7.6 billion in the trade surplus was due to a higher increase in exports of 22.0% or RM10.9 billion, in comparison with a lower increase in imports of 7.9% or RM3.3 billion. Total imports and exports for the month were valued at RM45.0 billion and RM60.6 billion respectively as against RM43.5 billion (imports) and RM55.8 billion (exports) in May 2007. 2. Electrical & electronic products, the largest export revenue earner, totalled RM24.5 billion or 40.4% of total exports in May 2008, recorded an increase of 9.8% or RM2.2 billion over the corresponding exports last year. Imports of intermediate and capital goods, which constituted 86.5% of total imports, showed an increase of 8.8% to RM38.9 billion.

JANUARY – MAY 2008
A. BALANCE OF TRADE 3. For the first five months of 2008, Malaysia’s external trade balance registered a surplus of RM54.7 billion, an increase of RM19.8 billion or 56.9% as against RM34.9 billion in the corresponding period last year. Total exports recorded a growth of 14.6% to RM268.2 billion, while imports increased by 7.2% to RM213.4 billion as compared with RM234.0 billion and RM199.1 billion respectively in 2007. B. EXPORTS 4. Electrical & electronic products, valued at RM102.5 billion, remained as Malaysia’s main export earner and contributed 38.2% of total exports during the period. Export revenue from this category of products decreased by 1.5% or RM1.6 billion as compared with the same period last year. The major component, electronic integrated circuits which made up 25.8% of total exports of electrical & electronic products, showed a decline of 10.8% or RM3.2 billion to RM26.5 billion. 5. Palm oil & palm oil-based products, retained its position as the second largest export revenue earner with a total combined value of RM26.5 billion or 9.9% to total exports. Exports of palm oil, the major commodity in this group of products, recorded a strong growth of 91.4% to RM19.4 billion. This improvement was mainly due to higher export of average unit value which rose by 53.3% to RM3,059.3 per tonne, as well as the export volume increased by 24.9% to 6.3 million tonnes over the corresponding period last year. 6. Crude petroleum, the third largest commodity which represented 6.7% of total exports, increased by 50.4% or RM6.0 billion to RM17.9 billion in the period January-May 2008. The increase was attributed chiefly to the higher export average unit value which went up by 45.1% to RM2,478.6 per tonne. 7. Liquefied natural gas (LNG), which accounted 5.0% of total exports, was the fourth largest export commodity. Total exports of LNG rose by 24.0% to RM13.5 billion in the first five month of 2008. This increase was the result of higher export average unit value by 27.6% to RM1,354.2 per tonne. 8. Petroleum products, the fifth largest export commodity (4.4% of total export) expanded by 54.5% to RM10.6 billion during the same period last year. 9. Timber & timber-based products, the sixth largest export earner (3.4% of total exports), reduced by 6.3% or RM0.6 billion to RM9.1 billion. C. IMPORTS
10. The composition of imports by end-use for the three major categories of imports was as follows: -

a. intermediate goods -	RM154.4 billion (72.4% of total imports); the main component being parts and accessories of capital goods (excluding transport equipment) amounted to RM70.7 billion or 45.8% of intermediate goods,
b. capital goods -	RM28.7 billion (13.4% of total imports), and
c. consumption goods -	RM12.8 billion (6.0% of total imports).

11. Comparatively, the above items recorded the following changes in value over the same period in 2007 as shown below:-

a. intermediate goods -	+RM12.5 billion (+8.8%),
b. capital goods -	+RM2.3 billion (+9.1%), and
c. consumption goods -	+RM1.4 billion (+9.7 %).

D. DIRECTION OF TRADE 12. Malaysia’s top five trading partners were the, the Republic of Singapore, United States of America, the European Union, Japan and the People’s Republic of China. These countries collectively accounted for 58.7% of Malaysia’s total trade in the period January - May 2008.

Source: Department of Statistics Malaysia (http://www.statistics.gov.my/)